Family
by rcruz1234
Summary: Sequel to Just a Simple Love Story. Allie's father returns and Callie's family struggles with her coming out.
1. Chapter 1

**TITLE:**** Family (Chapter 1)**

**Rating: PG-13  
AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. **

**Author's Note: This is a sequel to Just a Simple Love Story. It's not as long or as good. Sequels, I have discovered during the writing of this piece, are not really my thing, so this is probably the only one I'll do. I have changed and rewritten this so many times, I'm not sure I recognize it anymore. It is not as good as the original, but I'm comforted by the fact that most sequels aren't. Special thanks to Natasha for repeated kicks in the ass to get this done. It is not finished, but it is close enough to finished that I feel comfortable posting.**

He drove carefully, unused to the curves and dips. The switchbacks that everyone else was taking with ease had him gripping the wheel, his white knuckles contrasting with the honey colored skin of smooth hands. He checked mirrors constantly, wondering for the hundredth time what had possessed his sister to move here. He was sure she had said something about residency programs being like the army - you go where they tell you to go. He didn't know if he really believed her. If he had learned anything from his father it was that there was always a way to get around rules, a way out of the "wherever they send you" crap. Loopholes were built into life. He sighed hating to think about the things he had in common with his father. Despite their difficult, oftentimes infuriating relationship, he had to admit to himself that in this area, he was very much like his father and so unlike his sister and mother.

They had always been resistant to the power that came with wealth. He had never shied away from it. One should not abuse it, but you used whatever resources where at your disposal, even if it gave you an edge over others. His sister was different. She didn't even like to talk about the family business to her friends. He remembered being perplexed that she preferred to work throughout college and med school rather than accept the allowance his father made available. He thought maybe he understood her better now, or at least he understood her reasoning. He understood now that accepting the money came at a price, namely his father's meddling. His money, his right to advise and sometimes dictate was how his father saw things. His sister had always known that. She had always been smarter than him. Unlike him, she had resisted the temptation of Dad's money and so had escaped the constant intrusions into her personal life from her father. As a result, she still had a decent relationship with him, while he and his father had bickered and fought about who controlled what until they couldn't talk at all. He hadn't spoken to his father in close to a year. Of course it could be that he was just nicer to Callie because she had given him a grandchild, but he wasn't about to get that radical and have one of his own.

He drove reciting the instructions to her neighborhood in his head. Two more miles and then a left, he thought pushing aside the fact that he knew he should have told his father that he was here and the reason why. Family came first. His father had taught him that. He was like his father there too. Family always came first. Somehow though, he knew his father would eventually figure it out on his own, figure out why he would transfer from a city and job he loved to this place. Only one thing could make Diego Torres leave his life in Washington and transfer to Seattle. David Gentry

He had hoped that he would never get that missive, but it had arrived a week ago in his email. David Gentry had disappeared from Massachusetts and was rumored to be heading out West. Diego had his contacts in David's world and he paid them a decent sum of money to keep him abreast of David's activities, so he had no reason to doubt the intelligence. Once he heard the rumors, he knew he had to go. So, he had sought out his father's powerful friends as well as a few of his own and facilitated a transfer to the Seattle office. It was the fastest transfer in the history of the federal government, he suspected. With his job taken care of, he had emptied his apartment, tied up some loose ends, packed a bag and finally bought a plane ticket.

And now he was pulling up to the house. No doubt his sister would be surprised to see him. She would have questions; an endless amount of questions that he needed to side step. He would need to explain the suddenness of his arrival as well as his desire to live in this weird rainy city. He needed something that would not raise her suspicions. It wouldn't be that hard. They had been joking for years that they should move into the same city. He would just tell he had finally decided to make the joke a reality.

He sat in the car for a few minutes and just stared at the house. It was a peaceful looking house that had a distinctly homey feel to it. It was brick with a well maintained lawn. It was picture perfect and he laughed at the chaotic character of the inside of the house, so very different from the serene outer shell. He thought he heard laughter and the faint sounds of high voices and stepped out of the car. He looked around carefully, noting the few cars that littered the street and the quiet lawns. He saw sprinklers going back and fro on lush grass, but no other activity. Nothing seemed out of place, but then again, he wouldn't recognize the strangeness in this neighborhood so different from the one he had just left. Nevertheless there was nothing immediately suspicious and so he continued to the front door.

He hadn't bothered to call and he knew he would need to explain that too, but that one was easy. Callie liked surprises and so he would say he wanted to surprise her. He thought about his story. He would stick as close to the truth as possible. He missed her and the kids, wanted to get to know Erica - all true things. After a few moments spent ringing a doorbell no one was answering he listened intently for the sounds he had heard earlier. He stepped off the front steps and started making his way to the back of the house following the sounds that carried on the wind. The closer he got, the more distinct became the voices, until he recognized his sister and Lucas and even Allie's small voice.

He turned the corner and saw them then. Erica was walking towards the grill with items that he could only guess at as she held them high above her head. Allie had gotten up from the picnic table where she been watching Lucas pretend to toss salad and reached a small little hand to one of the hooks on Erica's jeans. Either Erica was expecting the contact or she was used to it. She just placed a free hand on Allie's head and rubbed it affectionately.

"Stand back a little from the grill, sweetie," he heard Erica warn his niece.

She stepped back slightly but seemed reluctant to leave Erica who finished placing what he could now recognize as burgers and hot dogs on the grill. She wiped her hands on a nearby towel and then turned and swooped down to pick up Allie who squealed in delight. They both made their way to the salad makers. Callie was still chopping veggies as Lucas enthusiastically tossed salad, his small uncoordinated hands causing bits of lettuce and cucumber to fly right out of the bowl. Callie smiled as she watched him. He was so intent on his task, that he seemed oblivious to the stuff being tossed out of the bowl.

Diego leaned against a tree. He tuned out the sounds and just watched them for a while. The kids lingered at the table a while longer. Allie took a turn at tossing the salad as well and after a few words exchanged with their moms they jumped off the table and ran towards the playground set he had helped Erica pick out for the kids last Christmas, It was their gift from Santa. Callie had been pissed, calling the gift too extravagant, but since it was from Santa she hadn't grumbled too much. He turned his attention back to his sister and her partner who were calmly picking up the remnants of Lucas's enthusiastic salad tossing. They exchanged soft words he couldn't make out and then their hands were intertwined and they were just staring at each other. As if performing synchronized movements, their eyes shifted to the kids, still engaged in an adventure of their own making and then back to each other. He knew what was coming next, was prepared to interrupt their brief make-out session before it got started, but an unfamiliar feeling hit him square in the chest. For a moment, so quick and fleeting he might have missed it if he blinked at the wrong time, he was just a little jealous of his sister, a little jealous of what she had found in Seattle with Erica and Lucas. He tried blinking away the feeling as he saw their lips meet.

He had never felt that before. Sure he'd wanted and had plenty of girlfriends, but he had never thought beyond the immediacy of the next date, the next getaway, the next whatever. He did not share his sister's desire for that special someone that looked at you like Erica was looking at his sister. Not until this moment. He was taken back and had to shake his head to get that confusing thought to just disappear. They had separated now, but he was afraid to look at them. Instead he turned his attention to making his presence known.

He thought about how to approach them, aware of the fact that they weren't expecting him and wondering how he should make his presence known without startling them. Allie neatly took that problem out of his hands.

"UNCLE DIEGO!"

He heard her and turned towards her as she made a beeline for him.

In the few seconds it took her to reach him and leap into his arms, he had one brief thought. David Gentry was not going to mess with this. He couldn't let him do anything to break the fabric these four had woven together. He stretched out his arms, barely catching a glance of Lucas coming up fast behind his sister and also shouting "Uncle Diego, Uncle Diego" at the top of his lungs. He caught her as she leapt and felt Lucas crash into his legs almost taking them both down.

"Umph," he grunted as he felt both tiny bodies crash into his. He bent down and brought Lucas close to him as well, engulfing the both of them in a fierce hug, praying as he had never done before that nothing befall them, that all they know was the goodness surrounding them and not the forces that wanted to tear them apart.

* * *

Continued in Chapter 2 - should be coming soon


	2. Chapter 2

**TITLE:**** Family (Chapter 2)  
AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. **

**Author's Note: ****Okay folks this work of great suckitude continues. I am not a lawyer, nor a doctor so please excuse any errors. They are all mine. **

It was one of those nice bright days, so rare in Seattle. One could actually feel the beginnings of summer, could even smell it in the air. Birds were singing lovely songs of their own making, the wind providing a nice rustling background as it wound its way gently through trees. The neighborhood stood quiet as if posing for a portrait, decked out in its shiny best. The houses looked polished and clean. No roaming cars or stray children disturbed the scenery. It was almost surreal, this perfect neighborhood on this perfect day, seemingly void of humans. The houses stood still as if nothing was going on inside. But it was an illusion. Especially in one house, one brick house whose occupants or at least two of the occupants, were new additions to the neighborhood. In that house, two strong willed women stood face to face, entangled in some strange contest known only to them.

They stood, eyes locked, trying to stare each other down. Erica Hahn had never been good at this game with Callie Torres. She could stare down most anyone else, but not this woman, not this beautiful lusciously curvy woman with the warm brown eyes, who had so effortlessly burrowed her way deep into Erica's heart not to long ago. Still, Erica was making the effort because there was nothing else to do, but make an effort. She had already bought the damn thing.

The silent staring contest could have gone on much longer, but it was interrupted, much to Erica's delight, by Callie's brother, who barged into the house like he lived there, even though his official home, for now anyway, was across the street. Most days it irked Erica only slightly that he did that. Today she was grateful.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked walking through the back door, his preferred entrance.

He looked from one to the other as neither of them were moving.

"O-kay," he said slowly.

Callie finally looked away and toward him. "What?" she asked.

"Just wondering what the plan was for Al's birthday?" he asked again in that slow deliberate tone.

"Apparently the plan is to spoil her until she becomes a little princess."

Erica rolled her eyes. "It's just a guitar, Callie. She likes to play and mine is too big for her."

"I know, but it's too much. What happens when she decides she likes flute better?"

"Then we get her a flute."

"No, we don't just get them everything they want, Erica. They can't get this idea that all they have to do is ask for something and they'll get it."

"Callie, we'll sign her up for lessons and make her go. This is no big deal."

"And when she decides she doesn't like it?"

"We'll just make her finish the lessons, I guess," said Erica. She really didn't understand why Callie was freaking out over this. It was a birthday present, a damn good birthday present in her opinion. But Callie was obsessed with setting limits and boundaries with both Lucas and Allie. They didn't fight much, but when they did, it was always over this, Erica going overboard and Callie holding back too much. That was okay. She understood where Callie was coming from and she thought Callie understood her point. They just needed to work out their different styles.

"At least it's not another toy," said Diego trying to be helpful as he pulled a bowl from the cupboard and started searching for cereal.

"Shut up," said Callie. "That's what you're having for dinner?" she asked him.

"No. Snack," he said as he found the sweetest most sugar loaded cereal in the cabinet and poured.

He probably hadn't planned on it, but his comment had made an impact. Erica saw Callie working it out in her head. The movement of the eyes, slightly out of focus, the biting of her lip, all signs of her brain working fast and furiously.

"Okay," said Callie. "It's not a toy, so she can't treat it like a toy. We just have to make sure that this gift comes with responsibility."

"Thank you," said Erica walking up to her and cupping her face. "We're okay?" she asked with a smile.

"Of course," said Callie returning Erica's smile. Their eyes held and Erica felt something pass through her. She thought Callie felt it too.

"Diego?" said Callie through a swallow.

"What?" he asked around a mouthful of cereal.

Erica smiled, positive that she knew what Callie would say next. She wanted to be sure and so she leaned in and pulled Callie's face toward her, kissing her softly and slowly. She loved kissing Callie like this. She started with a gentle caress to the face in her hands. Then came the good part, caressing those lips with hers so soft and gently that she felt Callie almost tugging at her to increase the pressure. Slowly she complied, putting light pressure on Callie's lips, making her intent clear. It usually drove Callie to murmurs and hisses that would ignite Erica, making her tingle and throb all over. She heard the beginning of those murmurs now as she pulled away.

"OUT!" said Callie looking briefly in Diego's direction. "Take the kids somewhere."

They didn't hear him respond. Erica thought she heard his footsteps or the clang of the cereal bowl, but she couldn't be sure. She went back to the kiss, continuing her actions until Callie's lips felt slick and swollen and her breathing became short. She heard commotion on the stairs and began to pull away.

She caught glimpses of Diego trying hard to shepherd the kids out of the house, but he wasn't having an easy time of it.

"Are Mom and Mommy coming?"

That was Lucas.

"Don't we need to say goodbye to them?" she heard Allie's voice.

"They're busy right now; let's just get our stuff together guys."

Erica pulled Callie close to her, felt Callie let out an uneven breath before hearing a whispered, "that was fantastic." She turned, but stayed in Erica's embrace letting Erica's arms settle around her waist..

"Listen guys, you shouldn't go in....there..." sighed Diego as he watched the kids race to the kitchen.

Erica heard little footsteps coming closer and then moved slightly to the left to see their bouncing figures making their way to the kitchen.

"Uncle Diego's taking us to McDonald's!" said Allie.

"That's nice of him," said Erica although she sent a glare his way through the doorway. He merely shrugged as he stood just outside the kitchen, seeming fearful of re-entering it. They said hurried goodbyes and then the kids and Diego were off and it was just the two of them again. They didn't get a lot of alone time these days and so although Diego annoyed her by continually barging into their house like he lived there, she was grateful for these times, when he would take the kids out of their hair and her and Callie could reconnect.

Diego had teased her about it in this very kitchen a few days ago. He told her he could always tell when they needed to be alone because they would start biting his head off. She had flatly denied it, but that had made him practically spit out the water he was drinking.

"You're kidding, right? You so totally become Super Crank and my sister becomes Crank Overlord or something."

"Diego, we are mature adults. We do not bite anyone's head off just because we haven't been together."

"Yeah well as someone who has experienced multiple bites, I beg to differ. You once told me to stop breathing."

"Well I probably had a good reason," she had said simply.

"I didn't say it was a bad reason," he smiled at her, "but usually people don't complain about me breathing unless they're bad guys."

"Lucky you," she had said sarcastically before throwing the towel she was using to dry her hands at his face, just as he was about to put a cookie in his mouth. She had heard a somewhat muffled "Hey!" from under the towel and smiled as she walked away.

Maybe he was right. It didn't really matter. Right now he was giving them that very much needed alone time. She felt Callie's hands pulling at her shirt and luscious full lips on her neck and all thoughts of being horny and humiliated in front of her irksome brother-in-law went somewhere else. She gave herself over to Callie's ministrations and concentrated on the hands and lips travelling up and down her body and how much time she would let that go on before insisting they head upstairs.

* * *

They were in a much better mood later when the kids returned with sticky chocolate faces from the hot fudge sundaes Diego had fed them. Callie hadn't yelled. She hadn't even questioned what else they had eaten. She had just hugged them to her and threatened to eat their faces until they squirmed and ran for the bathroom to wash up. Discussions of the guitar had shifted from: was it too much to talk of when Allie should start lessons. They had discussed plans for birthday celebrations with Diego before he walked across the street to Callie's old house. Then shifted to Addison's arrival and the chaos that would ensue when half the hospital showed up for Allie's birthday in a few days. That was an event Erica was not looking forward to, but relationships meant compromise and this was hers.

They had even managed to not talk about the other constant conversation between them: Allie's adoption. Lucas's adoption had become official only a month before. The process itself had not been difficult, but it had reminded them that Allie's adoption would not be as smooth. Erica worried. She didn't like that such an important thing seemed so out of her hands. She was hoping the meeting with Danielle tomorrow would alleviate some of the irrational fears she was beginning to develop about the whole thing. With Lucas it was just about her and Callie. With Allie there was the David Gentry problem, which in her mind did not seem to have a good solution. Her and Callie had talked about the possibilities of how to proceed, had been trying to guess at what Danielle would suggest, but they were no experts and so their wild ideas only fueled the speculation and for Erica, the worry that it wouldn't happen. She tried not to let that thought twist around her insides, but it was hard. She liked being in control and in this, not only was she not the expert, she would have no role to play until the end, when Allie's adoption was final.

Callie had pleaded with her to not view it like that, had reminded her that no matter what some judge said, she was Allie's second Mom. But Erica knew it mattered and she hated that something that mattered so much, was so out of her hands.

* * *

The next morning, Callie sat listening to Danielle, who she had to admit was doing her best to not speak in legalese. Still she hated this process. She hated the legal hoops they had to jump through to have the state validate their family. They were a family plain and simple. She had felt the same annoyance when they had gone through this with Lucas who was now officially her and Erica's son. But the process with Allie was infinitely more complex and unfortunately involved one more person. She sat straighter in her seat intent on not letting her mind wander, wanting to pay attention to the petite blond sitting in front of them. She reached for Erica's hand and instantly relaxed at the warmth she felt.

"The best option for right now is legal guardianship. Until we get Allie's biological father to consent, adoption is not a viable option. For an adoption the parents have to sign over their legal rights. The tricky part of this case is that paternity has never been established. David Gentry has made inroads in that direction, but has never actually done it. His custody suits were the first step, but he can't just sue for custody. Paternity needs to be established. In a case like this, the judge would order a paternity test and then establish paternity through court order. A case can't move forward unless paternity is established. David didn't do in Massachusetts or here. That's both good and bad. Good because without paternity we don't need him to consent to the guardianship which should be fairly straightforward."

"And the bad?" asked Erica.

"In Washington there is virtually no statute of limitations for establishing paternity. You can establish paternity up until the child turns 18. If he chooses to do so, Allie's father could establish paternity and then possibly challenge the guardianship at any time up until she turns 18."

"So basically if we pushed, David could push right back with the paternity thing and then we'd be screwed," said Callie, the frustration evident in her face.

"No, we would just face some challenges. Right now there are a lot of factors in our favor for legal guardianship: no paternity has been established, he is a known abuser of drugs, and he has not been a part of Allie's life. Those are all reasons the judge will look at when he sees our petition. David doesn't have to give consent for the judge to grant a petition for legal guardianship to Erica. The downside of course is that David can challenge the guardianship at any time. His consent isn't required because he still retains his legal rights as a parent and as such one of his rights is to challenge the guardianship, but that doesn't mean the court will just rule in his favor in a challenge."

Danielle looked from Callie to Erica and then back to Erica. "But before all of that, he would need to establish paternity. It won't be a cake walk for him to challenge the guardianship."

Callie imagined Danielle could read the both of them very well and knew they were uncomfortable with all of this. Danielle had been able to read them from the beginning, had seen things Callie had not been ready to see or face.

"Look ladies, I'm not saying this isn't complicated. It is very complicated. He has a history of at least attempting to gain custody, so we need to deal with him. The best we can do is be upfront about everything. Just because paternity has not been established yet does not necessarily give us free reign to go ahead. Besides, I would hate to move forward with the petition for adoption without informing him because that puts us at risk. If he challenges us, he could accuse us of trying to deny him his rights. Family courts like nice heterosexual families and they virtually bend over backwards to keep kids with their biological parents. We want to do this by the book, even if it means establishing paternity in order to get him to give up his rights."

Erica cringed. Callie knew she was struggling with Danielle's strategy. It seemed illogical to her and she had not hesitated to voice her opinion often and loudly since this process began.

"It just doesn't make sense to me, Danielle. If he doesn't have rights now because paternity has not been established, why can't we just go ahead? Why do we have to grant him rights only to turn around and beg him to give them up? It makes no sense," said Erica letting go of Callie's hand and leaning forward.

"I've gone over this Erica. You'll just have to trust me on this. Just because paternity has not been established does mean we get to do whatever we want. He can still demand that paternity be established. Do you understand what that means? That means he can do it at any time and then we get into a legal mess we don't want to be in. Trust me on this. We could do the adoption right now if you want, but he could challenge it. There's case law on this. We could lose, Erica. This is not some absent father that has not been in contact with the mother. This is someone who has twice tried to get custody. A judge will take that into consideration if he challenges the adoption."

Erica put a hand to her head, a sure sign; Callie knew that a headache was developing. She got up from her seat and stood behind Erica. She had recently discovered that stress, induced headaches in her beloved and thankfully, she had also discovered that an easing of tense muscles helped immensely. She set fingers on strong shoulders and started a slow rubbing motion. It had taken her a few tries, but she finally had it down now. She needed to start with slow movements, rubbing tense muscles and warming them with deft fingers. Then she would slowly increase the pressure, loosening up the tightness until she felt Erica completely relax. She had loved making that discovery, loved knowing she could do something when Erica got tense.

She let her fingers find their way and focused on Danielle, trying to remain cognizant that despite the intimate touch, they were not alone.

"So what do we do?" she asked.

"I don't know him. You do. What are the chances he would give up his parental rights?"

"I don't know."

Danielle pushed forward. "I'm advising you to establish paternity. Paternity is not just a perk. It gives you certain rights but it also imposes obligations. He would owe a heck of a lot of child support. Do you think the obligation to pay would induce him to give up his parental rights?"

Callie sighed, but continued her gentle message of Erica's shoulders. "Every time he's shown his face, it's for money. Maybe if we threw more money at him he would give up his rights, but I worry that's he's treated Allie like some sort of cash cow, always using the threat of taking her away to get money from my family. He gives up his rights, he's giving up his access to easy cash, so I don't know."

She was concentrating on the muscles under her fingers and not on the words. She couldn't concentrate on the words and the things they were discussing, things that made her just as tense as they were making Erica. But the motion of her fingers on Erica's shoulders, the movement of her hands down a strong back were surprisingly also relaxing her, letting her focus on the positive, on the woman in front of her and the family they had made and not on the problems that lay ahead. She needed that, needed to keep everything in check, needed to remember what they were trying to achieve.

"Then I suggest that you stop giving him money to go away," said Danielle leaning back in her chair and clicking her pen absentmindedly. She leaned forward after a few seconds.

"Look Callie no judge is going to give him custody. Not with his record of drug abuse. At most they would probably give him supervised visitation. Stop giving him money and he loses the cash cow anyway. We threaten him with child support and he might decide it's not worth the trouble and sign over his rights and obligations. If you are both agreeable, which I think you are," she said smiling, "I think we should move forward with the legal guardianship. We don't need to resolve the David problem to proceed with that and that gives Allie some protection."

Erica and Callie both nodded.

"I'll draw up the papers for that, which should be straightforward and simple. The next steps are figuring out the David situation, but let's not worry about that just yet. We have time. He hasn't been in contact in years, right?"

Callie nodded again.

Okay, well there's no reason to think he'll show up tomorrow or something. Let's just take some time to think about our options."

Callie looked at Erica. There was still worry there, but she seemed a little more relaxed.

"Okay," she said looking at Callie and smiling. It wasn't her full 'everything is great smile', but it was a smile nevertheless and for that Callie was grateful.

--------------

Continued in Chapter 3


	3. Chapter 3

**TITLE: Family (Chapter 3)  
AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. **

**Author's Note: More setting up of things…get used to the unevenness of this piece cause it just gets worse. All mistakes are mine. Thanks!**

The rain started shortly after they began. Allie had gone inside immediately whispering something to Lucas about not getting their clothes dirty. Lucas had considered it for a minute. Diego had seen his little face tilt slightly as he watched his sister make her way back into the house. She sprinted the last few steps when the gentle drizzle changed to a light patter. His gaze then went to Diego, a question in his brown eyes. Diego had returned the look with a challenging one of his own. He hadn't meant to. Diego had played in rain, sleet, and freezing cold temperatures plenty of times, so a little rain didn't bother him, but Lucas was only eight for Christ's sake. Diego was the responsible adult here. It was raining and the responsible thing to do was to take his nephew inside. And yet he stood there smiling at him, football in hand almost daring Lucas to stay. Lucas smiled back and called for the ball.

They were soaked and muddy in a matter of minutes, but the dirtier they got, the looser they got. Diego threw longer and harder making little Lucas pump his legs into the next door neighbor's yard before leaping into the air to make the latest catch. Lucas was good and Diego was intent on making him better, but today was not about training, today was just fun. The smaller, softer ball they were using allowed him to throw hard and fast without fear of hurting Lucas and it was a good thing too, because Lucas threw himself in front of that ball often and had gotten whacked in the face a few times as a result. Diego watched him making his way back; cradling the ball close to his body just like Diego had taught him. He increased his speed as he approached and Diego knew the game had changed. Lucas was going to try and get past him. Diego let him come, setting himself up, waiting for Lucas to commit to the left or right. Lucas faked right, spun and then went left. Diego had already committed to the right not expecting the fake, so he had to skid to a stop before shifting the weight on his feet from the right to the left and pushing off towards Lucas. He caught Lucas in a few seconds wrapping his arms around Lucas's waist and hauling him up off the ground before bringing them both down on the muddy grass. Having a nephew was fun.

Lucas was out of breath and laughing.

"I faked you. It worked. Did you see how I faked you?"

"That was pretty cool. Where'd you learn that move, huh kid?"

"Watching basketball last night. But there's no tackling in basketball, so the guy last night didn't get picked up like I did."

Diego laughed. "No there is no tackling in basketball." He looked at Lucas's rained soaked muddy face and cringed. "We better get you inside and in the bath or your Mommy's gonna kill me when she gets home."

"Aww, just one more, please? One more throw. Please, please, please," he begged.

Diego got up, grabbing Lucas by the shirt and lifting him completely off the ground. "Okay, but you throw, I catch," he said handing Lucas the ball.

Lucas's throws were still pretty wild, but he was getting the hang of it and once Diego had explained the importance of spiraling the ball, all his attention was focused on getting the ball to spiral which made his aim bad. But that just made the catches more fun and challenging for Diego, so he enjoyed Lucas's experimentation. He trotted the equivalent of 15 yards and turned to wait for the catch taking a moment to note the obstacles around him. One never knew what tree or flowerbed Lucas might send him into.

The throw was decent and for once did not go wild. He caught it easily and watched Lucas jump in the air congratulating himself on the accuracy of the throw. He cradled the ball and starting jogging towards Lucas but stopped short when he noticed a strange car pulling into the driveway. He scanned the area quickly, his senses now on full alert. Lucas was watching him, probably waiting for Diego to start making his way back so he could try and tackle him. He went through a mental checklist in his head. Allie was inside with the sitter. Erica and Callie were still at the hospital. Lucas was pretty exposed where he stood and Diego's gun was locked in a safe box in the house across the street. He motioned for Lucas to come back to him, his eyes now focused on the car and the stranger getting out. Diego did not like surprises.

Diego's heart beat picked up its already accelerated beating as he felt the familiar rush of adrenaline course through him, a feeling he had come to identify as his body's response to danger. He expected a man. He expected a well dressed, handsome, all-American, boy-next door looking guy. Instead the person getting out of the car was a woman, a tall gorgeous red head who moved with such grace and self-assuredness that Diego forgot it was raining. Cold dampness and rain usually causes people to cringe and turn inward, squint their eyes and look decidedly put out. But this woman could have been stepping out on a nice sunny day. She seemed to glide out of the car, the long trench coat she wore settling around her perfectly as she stood. The rain didn't seem to bother her even as it stained the light colored coat she wore, splotches of rain turning into dark spots on impact. Her hair was perfect, even in rain, falling around her shoulders in a cascade of dark heavy curls that he thought must shine brilliantly in the right light. She bent down, peering into the car and saying something. Apparently she had a passenger with her. Diego blinked knowing he should stop staring and focus on the passenger. Who was it? Who was this stranger? Was she somehow connected to David?

But he couldn't turn away, not yet, because she had closed the car door and was now looking directly at him and that smile froze him in place. It lit up her features and it was so weird to be literally seeing light on a day as dreary and rainy as today that being frozen in place was the only explanation for what happened next. He was caught up in something and so he didn't hear the pounding of little footsteps coming fast. He didn't register the hard breathing, nor did the wild yell Lucas let out before launching himself serve as warning.

He felt the impact to his midsection, knocking the wind out of him and could do nothing as both he and Lucas tumbled toward the ground. He was still trying to get his breath back as Lucas pushed off of him, hands in the air.

"I got him! I got him! Mommy did you see? Did you see? I just jumped and whoosh I got him," he shouted as he jumped.

_Crap! The passenger was Callie?_

Diego groaned internally. He was afraid to get up. He considered staying where he was, rain splattering his dirty face, the cold mud seeping into his clothes as he lay there. This had to be better than having to face his sister and the beautiful stranger she had brought home.

"What the hell did you do to my kid?" said Callie.

The only problem with his plan to just stay put was that his sister was not going to let him. He finally got his bearings and sat up letting the football he had been holding tumble out of his hands. Legs bent, arms resting casually on his knees, he turned squinty eyes and his most innocent charming smile on her.

"Hey sis, nice day, huh?"

"Addy! Addy! Did you see?"

"I sure did and it was spectacular, but can we get inside? I don't know if either of you has noticed, but it's rainy out here," she said moving her eyes from Lucas to Diego. They stayed on him as she pulled her coat closer, a laughing smile on her face. He was immobilized again before his sister's voice broke through the trance.

"I'm sorry Addison. Go inside. You two, go around back. Those muddy clothes are not coming in the house. Allie inside?"

Diego stood. "Yeah, she said something about not wanting to dirty her clothes."

"Smart girl," said Callie.

Addison had made her way to the house and Diego's gaze wandered over to her again, as he watched her disappear through the doorway. Lucas was still happily jumping around. He had picked up the football and was tossing it carelessly in the air.

"Hey, wake up!" said Callie snapping her fingers at Diego and pulling him back to the real world.

"Friend of yours?", he asked after clearing his throat.

Callie eyed him suspiciously. "Yes." She turned to Lucas. "Lucas honey, go around back and strip those muddy clothes off and then straight to the bathtub."

"Mom! Addy's here. I can't walk around naked" He sounded horrified. The football slipped from his grasp.

"Ask Allie to get you my jacket. You can use that to get upstairs," said Diego.

Lucas seemed content with that, picking up the football again and tossing it in the air as he made his way to the back of the house.

Callie had the hood of her jacket up, so it was hard to see her face, but Diego was glad of that as he was pretty sure she was smirking and laughing at him.

"Man haven't seen you that out of it in awhile."

"Whatever," he said, but the response was lacking conviction as his eyes had returned to the doorway again.

"Are you staying for dinner?' asked Callie. "Cause Addison will be there," she added and he could hear the teasing tone.

He felt heat make a path up his face and looked at his feet, then shook his head. "I'm heading back to my place for a shower," he answered and then turned to go.

Callie laughed again, but did not stop herself from calling after him. "Erica should be home in a few minutes, so dinner will be about an hour. And by the way, you're washing Lucas's clothes. You got him dirty, you get to clean him up. It'll impress her. Addison likes kids. "

He waved at her in acknowledgement and tried to ignore the laughter that was carrying clear across the street.

________________

This had never happened to him before or rather it hadn't happened since he was 16 years old and finally done with the whole awkward puberty thing. Once his voice changed and he shot up 6 inches, he didn't get thrown for loops like this. He didn't lose himself so completely that he had to struggle to remain in the here and now, to stay in the world, register the scenes in front of him and not get lost in the giddiness rolling around in his stomach.

But there he was struggling for words at the dinner table while Addison and Callie shared amused looks that were sometimes directed at him. He had not been able to complete a full sentence in her presence. It was like she possessed some weird form of magic that would tie his tongue and clear his brain of the little vocabulary he managed to maintain in there on most days. At least Erica hadn't joined in the torture. She had just patted him on the hand and asked him if he could help clean up. He had planned on leaving right after dinner, disgusted with his complete and utter dorkiness, because he was not a dork, hadn't been a dork in 15 years. Nevertheless an abrupt departure would be lame, so he silently thanked his sister-in-law for the out she had given him and started gathering dishes, hoping against any hope, given his behavior tonight, that they wouldn't slip out of his hands and come crashing down around him.

He heard his sister tell the kids to get the drawings they had made for Addison and thought he saw a glimpse of her making her way to the kitchen. He set the dishes in his hands down and then reached for Erica's who turned around and met Callie at the entrance to the kitchen taking more dishes out of her hands and putting them on the counter behind her quickly. He reached for those as well and smiled.

They were interesting, the two of them. He had never seen a couple that could so effortlessly create their own little bubble no matter what was going on around them or who was in the room. Erica would reach for Callie's face and Callie would settle her hands on Erica's waist and they would lose themselves in that for awhile. Just like now.

He watched them do their little private dance, speaking to each other with glances and smiles until Erica kissed her lightly. "Be nice to your brother," she said pulling away slowly and pushing Callie out the door. "Go, enjoy Addison and the kids. We'll take care of this."

"Alright, sexy, but we are so finishing this conversation later."

"I'm right here," said Diego loudly. He had no problems with their public displays of affection, but anything beyond that made him squirm.

"Yeah, well good. You might learn something," said his sister on her way out.

"Forget it," said Erica as he opened his mouth to respond. "You'll never win."

"I know," he sulked and turned back to the dishes. In a few seconds it dawned on him that he was back in high school. His older sister was teasing him about girls and he was too skittish to do or say anything around them. He shook his head. No way was he going back to that. He had to get a hold of this.

Minutes later he was at the sink rinsing out dishes and handing them to Erica, still trying to work out how to talk to tall, dark and lovely. Erica interrupted his thought process.

"She's pretty," said Erica.

"Beautiful," he responded absently. He heard her chuckle and let out a frustrated breath. "What the hell? She's just a girl."

"She's a woman, but I understand what you're going through. Completely," said Erica taking the last of the dishes. "Happens to the best of us."

"What happens?" he asked.

"That feeling that something is burrowing itself inside you and making you act and feel...differently."

He dried his hands. "That's not what's happening. It's just… I can't seem to concentrate and act normal. I feel 15 years old again and what the hell, Erica? She's just a girl…I mean woman."

Erica stood arms crossed. "You like her?"

"She's hot! What's not to like and she's smart and so very pretty and she seems sweet. Ugh!" he grunted in frustration noticing how soft his voice had gotten.

"So why don't you do something about it?" asked Erica.

"Like what?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Have you forgotten what you're supposed to do when you meet a nice, pretty girl? Has it been that long?"

"No, but she…Were you not at the same dinner I was at? I'm not sure I could do anything at this point. I'm a complete freaking mess around her. I'm like a drooling idiot who can't talk or walk or anything. Besides…she lives in L.A., so no I'm not going to do anything about it."

"Okay," said Erica in that way that made Diego feel like everything was so not okay.

"On that note, I'm outta here. Thanks for dinner as usual."

"Thanks for helping with the clean-up," said Erica as she watched him walk away, his arms ridiculously raised, fingers intertwined on the back of his head, a stance she could now recognize as worry and frustration. He did if his team was losing during football games and when his father called.

______________

He walked into the combined living and dining room, surprised to find only the kids lounging on the carpet. Allie's nose was buried in a book, her eyes so intent on her reading he wondered if he had missed something about children's books. He had never been that into reading as a kid, finding everything he picked up more boring than what was going on outside his front door.

"Where'd everyone go?' he asked the kids as he went for his jacket.

"Upstairs," said Lucas taking apart Legos and organizing them into color-coordinated piles. Diego slipped his jacket on and heard a phone ringing that sounded like Callie's. He looked around eying a phone on the couch and picked it up looking at the face intending to let Erica know the phone was ringing. It felt wrong in his hands and he suddenly realized why. It wasn't Callie's phone, it was Addison's. He was about to set it down exactly where he found it, afraid that it would burst into flames and he would need to explain to Addison how he had broken her phone in the short stuttering phrases he usually used around her since he was incapable of actually producing any real sentences. But he hesitated and in a moment of confidence, rushed and fleeting, he thought about flipping it open and entering his own phone number into her contacts. That was the type of bold action he was used to. But this was not a woman who would take kindly to an invasion of privacy. If he wanted to continue enjoying her smiles, he needed to put the phone down. He set it down carefully. He would just ask his sister for her phone number…maybe.

He made his way to the kids planting quick goodbye kisses on their heads and foregoing his usual ritual of tossing them in the air before making his way out the door.

* * *

The next night Diego was sitting in a car waiting. Stake-outs were boring, but he was decidedly not bored and not as relaxed as his partner who was quietly singing out of tune next to him, tapping her hands on the steering wheel all out of beat. He was watching the clock, waiting with his guts turning inside out for it to reach 12:00. By that time Addison should be asleep and it would be safe to send her a message. The change from 11:59 seemed anti-climatic considering all the churning his insides were doing. He took a deep breath and pulled out his phone. He had gotten her phone number from his sister, but he had no desire to talk to her. He'd had enough of stupid stuttering speeches.

Instead he sent her a message. He had already composed the message in his head, so there was only the process of actually typing it.

_I can speak in complete sentences._

It wasn't Shakespeare, but it was something and a hell of a lot more than he had managed at dinner last night. He hoped he wasn't waking her and then said a silent prayer that by the time Allie's party rolled around, he could prove to her that he could actually speak in complete sentences. He had one more day to get himself together.

* * *

The party was loud and the din of the crowded back yard was making its way onto the street. It worried Erica. She had wandered to the front of the house where things were decidedly quieter. This was a quiet neighborhood and while some of their neighbors were here, some of them were not. Allie's party had turned into a much bigger affair than she had anticipated. Her idea of a small gathering fell to pieces the minute they had invited anyone from the hospital. Up until they had done that, she hadn't realized how intertwined everyone's lives had become. Inviting Mark had meant inviting Lexi, which Callie felt meant they had to invite the other Grey and the rag tag bunch around her. _How did my life become so full of…people? _ She was contemplating that thought when she felt a distinctly warm body she recognized at her back. She relaxed into Callie's embrace.

"Stop worrying. Everyone's having a great time," said Callie settling her chin on Erica's shoulder.

"You're right," said Erica rubbing the arms encircling her. "Was that your Dad on the phone?"

Callie let go of Erica and shifted positions until she was in Erica's arm, taking a deep breath and tangling hands in luscious curls.

"Yeah. Him and Mom wanted to wish Allie a happy birthday."

"That's nice."

"I have to tell him."

"Tell him what?" asked Erica, although she already knew.

"Lucas was with her. He didn't say anything, but I could see his little brain working. He and Allie have an Uncle in common, but Allie's grandparents are not his. I think he wonders about it."

"He's a smart kid. He understands that our family is different."

"I don't want our family to be different," sighed Callie pushing her body closer.

"Different is not bad, Callie. It's just…different," said Erica kissing the top of her head.

"Still, it's time. You're going to be Allie's legal guardian. I think it's time he knows about us."

Erica hugged her. "Okay, but not today. We still have presents and cake to get through."

She put an arm around Callie and started walking to the back of the house, the noise level rising with every step they took.

She stopped at the edge of the yard and surveyed the area. Grey's minions were around her having staked out a table near the center of the space in the backyard. Every once in awhile Grey looked around and caught Shepherd's eye as if reassuring herself he was still there. Lexi was attached to Mark or was Mark attached to her? She couldn't tell, but the both of them wandered around together all smiles and laughs. Webber was spending entirely too much time by the cooler that held adult drinks, which had her frowning.

"See I told you everyone was having a good time," said Callie. "I'm getting the cake. Why don't you round up Diego and gather all the presents. Don't let him carry too much though. He's been a klutz all day," she finished kissing Erica full on the lips before stepping away.

Erica chuckled to herself. She looked around for the cause of Diego's newfound clumsiness and found Addison having a good time with Bailey entertaining the kids. She looked around for Diego. He had been spilling drinks and tripping over his words all afternoon. It was a phenomena worthy of study. He was a perfectly normal, good-looking confident guy, but the minute Addison came within 10 feet of him he was a mess. It had even happened once when he had his back to Addison. She had approached him from behind, but like clockwork, he had tripped on something and sent a sloshing beer in Mark's direction.

He was getting better though. He was currently just staring at her from a few tables down. He had even managed to talk to her once or at least she hoped there had been words and not stuttering nonsensical phrases coming out of his mouth.

"Hey," she said sitting down next to him.

He had a dreamy look in his eyes and she wondered briefly if she had ever looked like that. She hoped not. He finally picked his head up from its prone position on his hand.

"What's up?"

"I need your manly muscles to help me bring out presents."

"Sure," he said getting up on slightly unsteady feet.

"Whoa there, are you okay?"

"Perfect," he said.

She looked again. His eyes were glassy, but he was standing on his own feet without swaying now. His gaze returned to Addison who was making her way toward them. Erica watched for his reaction, but for the first time, he seemed to be his normal self, even as Addison got closer.

"Hey, are you getting presents?" she asked coming to stand directly in front of Diego.

Erica wanted to answer, but she waited, more interested in how this would play out.

"Yes, we are," said Diego clearly. "You're a very beautiful woman," he added.

Erica almost burst out laughing.

Addison blushed. "Thank you."

"No thanks required. It's just a fact. A very nice fact," he finished and then smiled. He shook his head a little and then turned to Erica. "Presents?"

"I'll help," said Addison.

"They're mostly in the living room. Can you guys handle that while I go help Callie with the cake?"

"I think so," said Diego.

He seemed slightly confused and a little drunk, but still steady on his feet. Apparently what he needed was a little liquid courage. Erica patted him on the back.

"Don't drop anything," she said and went in search of Callie.

However Diego had gotten his courage, Erica was happy he had. He and Addison had spent the rest of the night not too far from each other, content to talk only occasionally and trying hard not to make their interest too obvious. Or at least they thought it wasn't obvious. Erica doubted anyone else was fooled, but for the most part that was not what held her attention that night.

There were other more important things that had her attention, like birthday presents you could strum and the look on Allie's face when she touched her guitar for the first time. And then there was Callie's delicious birthday cake and how Lucas sang Happy Birthday in the loudest voice he could. Those were the things she would remember about this very perfect day.

* * *

Continued in Chapter 4


	4. Chapter 4

**TITLE:** **Family (Chapter 4)**  
**AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay between postings folks. no Callie and Erica to entertain me. We move upward and onward with this crappy little tale. All mistakes are mine.**

The day after the party Callie was exhausted. Despite the presence of both Addison and Diego helping with the clean-up she had felt completely drained. A long shift at the hospital was not helping matters nor was the fact that Erica had been moving from surgery to surgery with only a sliver of a break which had not overlapped with Callie's. She was tried and missing Erica. It was not a good combination but it might have explained why she didn't hear the deep "Mija" that had the heads of both patients and doctors in the clinic turning.

She heard the word, recognized it as a term of endearment her father liked to use, and she might have even considered for a split second how like her father the voice sounded. But neither the the second "Mija?" uttered more like a question nor the approach of the distinguished man in the tailored suit woke her from her exhausted stupor until he was right next to her and touching her arm.

"Calliope? Are you okay?"

"DAD!" she exclaimed when everything finally clicked. "Oh my God, what are you doing here?" She hugged him hard, an action he mirrored. She loved that about him. He was a passionate man and while she didn't always agree with most of the things he got passionate about, he had never been one of those macho men afraid of expressing strong feelings - even clumsy lovey-dovey ones. He stepped back to examine her.

"Maravillosa, mija! You look great. Have you been exercising?"

"Not especially. Where's Mom?"

"I came this way, she went the other way looking for you. She should be coming around any moment now. We thought we'd stop by and see if you had time for us before we went to see Allie. We have a whole day planned for her."

She was happy to see him, but their presence here was a complication she hadn't wanted today.

"Ay, mi hija!"

That voice could wake the dead with its cheerfulness, thought Callie as she turned to meet her mother. Hugs and kisses and fast words spoken in a combination of English and Spanish phrases preceded a quick walk to the cafeteria during which Callie was figuring options. She couldn't have them just take Allie and not Lucas. Besides five minutes in Allie's presence and they would know. They entered the cafeteria and headed for an empty table, but before reaching it Callie stopped. Somehow she knew if she sat down she would lose her nerve.

"Mom, Dad I need to say something."

"Of course, baby, you can tell us anything," said her mother walking the last few paces to the table and sitting. "I don't know how you walk up and down these halls all day without getting sore feet."

"I don't wear heels," answered Callie instinctively. "Seriously, I need to say something and I don't want you to freak out."

"What is it?" asked her father in a serious tone. He had clearly picked up on her nervousness. "Come sit," he said as he joined his wife at the table.

Callie squirmed a little looking around the area. Was her father always barking out commands like that?

"I'll sit in a second, I need to say this."

"Okay," said her mother also picking up on the fact that something was different.

"I'm...I'm gay. Well I mean, I'm with a woman, so I guess that makes me gay. I wasn't always. Obviously, you know that, but I'm in love…with a woman. Her name is Erica and she's great. She has a son and I've adopted him and she's adopting Allie so..."

She looked from one to the other.

"Wait mija slow down. What are you saying?" asked her mother.

"I'm gay and I'm with a woman," she said quickly. Now that it was out she felt like she could sit, so she pulled out a chair and did just that.

"No!" said her father in a stern tone.

"You don't want me to sit here?" asked Callie confused.

"My daughter is not gay."

Callie looked at her mother, but she looked too stunned to actually mouth words, so she turned to answer her father. "Yeah Dad, I am. I'm in love with a woman. She's wonderful and I want you to meet her and Lucas."

"NO!" he said more loudly, slapping his hand on the table so hard both Callie and her mother practically jumped out of their seats.

"Carlos calmate!" said Carmen giving her husband a stern look. "Callie, are you sure? I don't...I don't think I understand any of this."

"Mom, I love her. I'm sure of that and that's all that matters."

"That's all that matters?" bellowed her father drawing both of their attention. "What about God? What about everything we've taught you? What about Allie?"

"What about Allie?" asked Callie getting defensive. "Allie loves Erica."

"So Allie has two Mommies? That's ridiculous Calliope. She's done something to you, brainwashed you."

"Dad, look at me. No one has brainwashed me. She loves me. I love her. It's...I can't explain it, but its good. I'm happy. We're happy."

"No, she's done something to you. Who is she? I'll talk to her and settle this whole thing."

"She's a doctor and this is not something you need to settle Dad."

"See, I knew it was a bad idea to let her come here with no family," he said to his wife who was still sporting a stunned expression.

"Dad," said Callie finding the comment almost comical. "It's not Seattle, it's not the water, I haven't been brainwashed. I fell in love. I'm in love and happy... so very happy. Please just be happy for me."

"How can we be happy for you? This is crazy Calliope. You are not gay. My daughter is not gay and that is final!"

Not waiting to hear another word from either his wife or Callie he left the table.

Callie went to stand up, but her mother's restraining arm kept her in place.

"Let him rant and rave for awhile. I'll talk to him."

"Thanks Mom," said Callie. She hesitated uncertain of where her mother stood with all of this. "Do you think I'm brainwashed?"

"Honey, no. You don't have the personality for that nonsense." Carmen stopped and examined Callie closely lingering on Callie's faces for long moments.

"You are in love," she finally said with wonder in her voice.

Callie blushed. "I am. I'd like you to meet her. She's wonderful Mom."

"She must be if she makes you light up like that."

"She is."

Carmen put a gentle hand on her daughter's arm. "I do want to meet her and this child you've adopted? I can't believe we are only finding out about this now! But give us some time Calliope. I don't understand any of this, but if you're happy...well that's all I've ever wanted for either of you kids. Now let me go find your father. I'll give you a call tonight, but...don't expect too much on this trip Callie. Your father...he...this is going to be hard for him."

"Why? Why does it have to be hard?" protested Callie.

But Carmen had no answer to that. With a final squeeze she rose from the table and went in search of her husband.

That had been bad, although Erica had deemed it downright civil compared to her own experience when Callie had shared the story with her. The next day Callie would understand exactly what Erica meant. She had been surprised by her father again as he sat patiently waiting for her in the waiting area. This time he was prepared.

He had begged her to talk to a priest or a counselor. He had bought strange books with scary covers like _What the Bible Really says about Homosexuality_,_Healing Homosexuality_, and _A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality_.

It was creepy and she told him so. She tried reasoning with him and because she did not not want to have this out at the hospital, she had asked him if he could come by the house so they could talk rationally. He had refused saying he would never step foot in the house she was sharing with that woman because it would be a sin to do so. She walked away then, but he continued the harassing, chasing after her until she disappeared into a restricted area. She had sought out Erica who tried to be patient about it all, but the whole situation was irking her. Erica thought they should be facing this or rather facing her father together, something Callie could not imagine at this point. She didn't like the idea of her father saying nasty things to Erica. He was barely holding back with her and she was his daughter. That had made Erica upset. She could tell Erica was upset because when Erica was upset, she went into silent mode. She wasn't a naturally chatty person, so if you noticed she was being especially not chatty, you knew something was very wrong. She knew Erica was struggling with wanting very much to protect Callie from something terrible and letting Callie work it out on her own terms. But the worse was yet to come.

He had accosted her in the hall a short while later and although she had wanted to walk away, she thought if she let him have his say, perhaps he would calm down and listen to her as well. It was the one constant about their relationship. He had always listened. Even when he was disappointed in her or was unsure of the choices she was making, he always listened. Maybe she owed him the same thing. So she had turned and let him have his say.

She regretted her actions a minute into his diatribe about abominations and sin and hell.

She had tried to diffuse anger with humor telling him that at least she couldn't get knocked up, wanting to prevent a complete knock down drag out fight at the hospital, where a lot of her private business had been laid bare in the last year. He had not found it funny, raising his voice in anger, something he had never done with her. He had raised his voice before, but always in that stern slightly condescending way of his, never in anger, never with the frenzied manner in which he was attacking her and her "lifestyle". It was unexpected and a little frightening and she hadn't known what to do but yell back.

"Dad, stop!"

"Mija, it's in the bible."

"What about loving one another? That's in the bible too."

He barely acknowledged her. "How do you answer Leviticus? Thou shalt not lie with a man as one lies with a female. It is an abomination."

Today however, he was seeing the results of the Catholic school he had paid for. "How about Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy or blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God or blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," she answered him.

He had stared at her in surprise, but fired back nevertheless.

"Romans: The men abandoned the natural use of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error."

"STOP! I love her. I'm in love with her. We're a family. I know you don't understand..."

"I understand perfectly. It's an abomination and my daughter is not an abomination."

"That's right, I am not an abomination," there were tears threatening, but the anger was winning this battle. "I am your daughter. I am strong and loving and everything you raised me to be and I am not an abomination."

She saw his face soften just a fraction. "Come back to Florida with me, mija. There are plenty of hospitals. You and Allie can come back and live with us."

She rolled her eyes and softened her own tone. "Dad, my family is here. It's Erica and Lu..."

The moment was over. All softness had left his voice.

"I won't here of it! Do you understand me? That is not a family. That is not my daughter."

She was struggling with what to say, how to get him to understand. She knew he loved her and that he thought he was doing the right thing. She was convinced that it was just a matter of finding that thing that would make it all clear to him, but she didn't have it yet.

"She's done something to you," he said almost frantically.

She continued staring at him, conscious of the fact that they were attracting attention. "Yes, she has done something to me. She loves me," said Callie trying to salvage something, still trying to get him to understand.

"That is not love!"

She flinched at the anger, but did not back down from him. "Please, just stop Dad. I know this hard for you to understand right now, but I need you to be okay with this. I need you to see beyond..."

"Beyond what, Callie? Beyond the sin? How can I? Callie this is not you. This is not my little girl."

"It is Dad. I love her and she loves me and you can't change that."

"I refuse to accept that. I didn't raise my daughter to be...that way."

"I'm still me, Dad. I'm the same."

"No, this is not my Callie. My Callie is a good Catholic girl. She does not defy her father or go against God and the bible."

She gave a nervous laugh at that. "I haven't gone to church in years."

"That must be the problem. Come back home. Father Tito will straighten this out."

She almost laughed again at his choice of words, but his next sentence stopped her.

"I can't accept this, mija. I can't. You do this, you continue with this and you will not be welcome in my house."

She flinched as if she'd been slapped. The surprise at his declaration showed on her face as she continued to stare open-mouthed.

"What do you mean?"

"You heard me. You continue on this path and you can no longer count on me. No trust fund, no monthly stipend. Nothing. You'll be dead to us."

She felt tears burning the back of her eyes and tried hard not to blink. "Us? I don't think you speak for everyone. Diego, Mom, I don't think you speak for them."

"I'm the head of this family, Calliope. Me. Not Diego, not your mother and not you."

"Dad, this is ridiculous."

"It's the way it is. I can't accept this, so make your choice Calliope. It's that woman or your family."

"Her," she said finally giving in to the mad urge to blink rapidly. She felt wetness on her face at the actions and wiped at her face.

"Are you sure?" he asked sounding surprised. "Calliope we are your family. She is not your family."

"You are so wrong. She would never make me make a choice like this. She is my family. Her and Lucas and Allie and me we are a family. You can't make this go away, Dad. You'll have to accept it or you lose me and Allie."

"You'll lose more."

"I don't think so, Dad. I'll lose more if I let her go and I won't do that."

He let out a breath and stared at her with sad eyes. "I'll pray for you then," he said calmly.

"You can't pray away the gay! Be prepared to lose me and your granddaughter, because you can't make this go away. You can't will this to go away, you can't pay money to make it go away and you can't pray it away," she shouted letting her voice rise like his had right in the middle of the hospital, in front of friends, colleagues, patients.

It was horrible. It was humiliating and hurtful and made her question everything for a second. What was she losing here? Her Mother? Her father? Was it worth it? And then she remembered the last year, the wonderful months of finding Erica and somehow building a life and forming a family before she had even realized it. She had to get away from him.

She walked away before he could continue and found an empty on-call room where she let the tears that had been threatening fall unbidden. She cried fearful that she would never make him understand how happy she was. She cried for the grandchild he wouldn't know. She cried for the arrogance that kept families apart. Still she was finding it hard to accept that he couldn't see it. More likely he refused to see it, which in her book was worse. Nevertheless it amounted to the same thing. He wouldn't see it and for that she wept.

That was where Erica found her .She knew it was Erica from the moment the door opened, letting in the artificial light from the hallway. Erica sat next to her on the battered bed and leaned her head against Callie's, rubbing her back and whispering an apology that was not hers to make.

"Callie, I'm sorry."

"I can't get him to understand. I'm happy and he can't see it. Why can't he see it, Erica?"

"He doesn't want to see it yet, sweetheart. Maybe it's too soon."

Callie raised her head and shook it vigorously. "No, he just can't see it. He sees something else, some perfect little girl that never existed."

"He's used to people doing what he says."

Callie laughed. "Yeah, just ask Diego. Up until now, I haven't really done anything to provoke him. He's supported me in everything. School, medical school, even when I got pregnant he was there for me. Why can't he just be there for me one more time?"

"I don't know sweetheart. I don't know." Erica brought her closer, kissing the top of her head. "Do you want me to try and talk to him?"

Callie squeezed her hard. "No honey. He said some pretty awful things to me. I don't know what he'd say to you and I'm not anxious to find out."

"There is nothing that he could say to me that would hurt me. I'm more concerned about what he's saying to you and how he's making you feel right now."

"He's cut me off."

There was silence as Erica worked out how to respond to that statement.

"What does that mean?"

Callie cringed. She hadn't wanted to tell Erica about this. "I told you I have a trust fund and so does Allie."

"he's taking away your trust fund?" asked Erica.

"There are some things I didn't...He's also...ever since Allie was born, he's... God, so sorry. He's made money available to me, no questions asked. I used part of the trust fund to buy the house and pay for Medical school, but he...didn't want me to use it for living expenses, so he's been providing money. Its allowed me to not have to dip into my trust fund so much, still have the house and live somewhat more comfortably than most residents."

Erica was shocked. Callie saw it descend on her face like a shadow. She closed her eyes and felt her heart rate pick up. They had talked about their finances and she had told Erica about her trust fund, but she had not told her this. Callie had not mentioned the monthly stipend her father provided. She hated talking about her family's wealth and had reasoned that since she had been offered an attending position, she wouldn't need the stipend anymore and so she didn't mention it, had been meaning to talk to her father about stopping it entirely since she had not dipped into it since she had started her new position and moved in with Erica. It wasn't a matter of trust. It was really one of denial, but she wasn't sure if she could explain that to Erica in this moment. She wasn't sure she could explain her need to feel independent of the money, her desire to not want that to be part of a life she didn't have anymore because she was building this new one.

"He's been provided money in addition to your trust fund?"

"He won't be anymore. It doesn't matter. I haven't used it since... well since we've... since..." She closed her eyes again. "I'm sorry. I should have told you, but its... its complicated. I don't like to talk about it. Besides it wasn't mine exactly and I'd stopped using it precisely because of this, because of the control it gave my father. I don't need it. We don't need it."

Erica got up and paced the floor saying nothing. After a few trips up and down the length of the room Callie could contain herself no longer.

"Erica, please talk to me. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It wasn't that I was trying to hide something from you, it's just not...it's not a part of us, of me, of who I am now...with you.'

Erica continued pacing and saying nothing. Callie was contemplating what she should do. She was getting dizzy letting her eyes follow Erica around back and forth and up and down the room. Just as she had resolved to get up and just stop her frantic walking, Erica stopped in front of her.

"Callie, I can't do this."

Callie felt her heart start a panicky pace as it beat even more rapidly then it had during her confrontation with her father. She'd already felt like she had lost a father today and now Erica was saying that she didn't want to do this.

"Can't do what?" Her voice was shaky, lips trembling involuntarily as she thought back to those months with David when he had been attentive and loving and she had thought they could conquer the world, before the pregnancy had happened and her little dream had crumbled around her. She had flashes of her time with George and the hope she'd held out that finally, with him she had a companion she could trust and count on and how that had also dissolved like a sandcastle in the wake of strong waves. Erica. Lucas. Was it disappearing again like everything good she had ever known?

Erica bent down, one knee on the ground, her hands reaching for Callie's cold ones, her eyes searching Callie's.

"I can't have secrets between us. Secrets destroy people. I don't need or want access to your money but I can't feel like there are things you can't say to me. And right now I'm feeling like there was something you couldn't say. "

Callie met her eyes. She was on the verge of tears, but she wanted to hold out a bit longer. "Erica it wasn't about that. It was just me trying to deny that part of my life to myself, not you. You just got caught in the middle of that. I'm sorry."

Erica gave her hand a squeeze and then got up to continue her pacing. "I know we're two people. I know we can't be everything to each other, but I thought we could at least tell each other things." She sighed and looked at the ceiling as she crossed her arms. "I'm trying to not be upset by this. I'm trying to remember that you have a right to keep your stuff private."

"Yes, I do, but I should not have kept this from you Erica, it was not about me needing to keep a secret from you. It was about this - my father - the conditions he places on that money. I didn't want that to be a part of us and so I just...skipped it, I guess. I just didn't want to deal with it. I should have told you."

Erica sat heavily next to her. "Okay," she said finally.

"What does that mean?" asked Callie genuinely confused.

"It means, I understand. I don't like it and it still makes me feel... not great, but I understand it."

Callie gave her a crooked smile. "I know it's hard, but thank you. I'll um... we can talk about the specifics..."

"No, I don't need the specifics. You only have to tell me what you want to tell me. I don't need to know the rest."

"Well right now there isn't much to tell, since he claims he's cutting me off."

"How...How will that affect you financially? If you don't mind me asking."

"Erica, whatever affects me affects you, so of course I don't mind. It doesn't really affect me much right now. I'm making a much better salary as an attending and I'm renting the house to Diego, so I'm... no, WE are fine. That threat would have meant something a few years ago, but not now."

Erica reached for her hand rubbing it lightly. She didn't speak for a long time, just stared at the hand in hers, watching her movements intently. "I love you," she said.

"And I love you," said Callie reaching for the lovely woman's whose bent head was just inches from her own.

"For richer or poorer," Erica chuckled out.

"In sickness and in health," Callie finished and then they both laughed.

Continued in Chapter 5


	5. Chapter 5

**TITLE:**** Family (Chapter 5)  
AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**Author's Note: All mistakes are mine. Apologies in advance.**

Chapter 5

David Gentry was a good looking guy. Any girl would be lucky to have him. He knew it, they knew it and so it usually all worked out. His father had always told him, _use what you got_ and he had. He had used his good looks to his advantage - always. He wasn't model pretty, although honestly he didn't know what that meant. He had tried that route once, had auditioned with a local talent agency. It had not worked out. He never understood why. They had told him his look was not enduring.

"It's not just about being pretty," one potential agent had told him.

It was about standing out in a roomful of pretty people. It was about being the one people remembered afterwards. He apparently didn't have that. The agent had told him not to feel bad, that very few people had that quality. She had looked right into his shiny, smiling face and told him to try his hand at acting. He had continued to smile at her. _No matter what's going on, always smile_, his father had drilled into him again and again. So he nodded and smiled as he listened to her tell him that at most he could get gigs with the local department stores, but nothing that would bring him real fame or more importantly - money. He had left that agency still smiling and already moving on to other things, because you didn't dwell, not in this life. People that lingered and processed, or obsessed about their failures stayed there in that place where all you are is a failure and he was not a failure. He was moving, always moving on to bigger and better things.

He had given up on modeling and had considered acting, but only briefly. His whole life was one huge act, so the problem was not that he wasn't capable. No, he walked around acting all the time. He acted like he liked more people than he did. He acted like he found them interesting when he was dying from boredom on the inside. In school, he acted fascinated by professors and stayed after class to appear even more interested. He smiled and made friendly until professors were convinced that he deserved an A if for nothing else, because of his enthusiasm. He made friends with everyone because everyone had something that you might need someday. He was not a bully and he didn't lord his good looks over those less fortunate. In fact, he liked geeks. They were basically smart people, who could memorize the periodic table but had no clue how people worked. He brought them into his circle, made them feel self-important until they were willing to "share" their work or even take the MCAT for him. That had been his crowning achievement in college. It had gotten him into Harvard Medical School and no one had been the wiser.

But good looks didn't bring in money and he needed lots of money. He knew how to make money. In many ways he was a natural. He was friendly to everyone and so lots of people trusted him. Trust was the key. Trust was the first step toward building a good client base. His father was always telling him medical school was a waste of time, that he should have put his good looks and talent towards sales and business. But his father was a fool. He had been in sales since he was 15 years old. He knew he was good at it. He had built a careful client base in three years that had expanded beyond his dinky little high school. But there was not much more expanding he could do in the equally dinky little town he had grown up in. He knew he needed a wider base and so he had moved on to the state school where the population was vast and the number of kids that had money to spend seemed endless. It was there that he developed his ultimate plan. He needed to move beyond Iowa. He needed a bigger stronger base with infinite possibilities. He thought of medical school because the base was larger and the career, which he had no doubt he could navigate just like he had high school and college, had access to his product: drugs.

It was so easy to get that mousy little guy to take the test for him. Fake IDs were obtained easily and when his scores arrived, no one blinked an eye or raised an eyebrow. Why would they? He was the all-American boy. Medical school however proved more challenging. It was hard and students barely had time for their own work, let own someone else's. He had found himself overworked and tired in medical school.

He built a base quickly as the demand for drugs was high, but he had to do well enough to not get kicked out and he was finding that more than difficult. So he girded his loins and looked around. There were good possibilities, but one thing about Harvard Medical school that he had not anticipated was the number of obnoxious I'm-so-smart assholes. The geeky guys had turned into aggressive, hard nosed competitors and so while he carefully made friends among them, he concentrated his attentions on the women. The women were always susceptible to his charms. They would no longer willingly do his work, but getting close enough to one would give him access and that was all he needed. He just needed to be able to pilfer their work and somehow make it his own.

This proved difficult for two reasons. First, the classes were so different it was hard to just pass someone's work off as your own. Assignments were too specific to be able to doctor like he'd done in undergrad. His second problem was the girl he had set his sights on. She was exceptionally bright and she was filthy rich or rather her family was filthy rich. All perfect. In fact, she was perfect in every way, but one. She was nice and darn likeable. This had never figured into his equations. He liked her. She was a little on the heavy side, but not disgustingly so. She had just enough of a self-confidence issue that he could utilize her, but she was also competitive and she could detect bullshit faster than anyone he'd met before. Still she seemed flattered by his attentions and he found that unlike other girls he had charmed in just this way, he liked that she liked it and so things were confusing.

He still had a plan and he still stuck to it, but he felt bad for her and he knew feeling like that meant something. But before he could figure everything out, it had fallen apart. She got pregnant, he got busted and suddenly his smile wasn't getting him the things he wanted. But he hadn't picked her blindly and he was the master of adaptation. Adapt, improvise, overcome. Wasn't that what Clint Eastwood said about marines? He could do that and he did. He had threatened her with custody and saw the terror fill her eyes. He had cringed inwardly, because even after everything that had happened she had looked at him with those sad, brown eyes that seem to touch places he didn't realize he had. It was as if those eyes wanted to hug him and for a moment he wanted that too. But then clarity returned and he had persisted with the threats. She had not known what to say or do and finally daddy had intervened as fathers always do. He got his money, hired a lawyer that knew what charming smiles and good looks could get you and since it was a first offense, he got probation and rehab.

That had been good, because medical school was out, so he needed a new plan and rehab gave it to him. It was even more perfect. He had learned something in medical school. Studies proved that an addict falls off the wagon at least three times before kicking the habit entirely. Most cases it was more than three and he was determined to help those in rehab acquire the drug of their choice when they were ready to fall off that wagon. He had been through 11 rehabs, most voluntarily. It was a fruitful place to develop his client base; vulnerable people who always, always reached that point where it all just became too much and he was always, always there for them.

It had its drawbacks of course. Some of those people eventually did kick the habit. Rehab would finally stick in some cases and that was a customer lost, so he'd had to figure out ways to expand and that was ultimately what had led him here, to this store buying clothes with a stolen credit card. Using addicts and junkies to run your drugs came with some risk and one of those was that they could disappear with the goods. Cookie had disappeared with a huge stash and David owed money for that. You don't owe money to the people he dealt with for very long and so he'd had no choice but to leave town fast and track her down again.

He needed money, but he couldn't just approach her. This was an art and he needed to prepare for the role. He needed to wear nice clothes and hone his smile and make her believe that he could sue for custody and win, all the while being nice. She had been losing patience with him he knew. The last time he had made an appearance in her life had been three or four years ago, he wasn't really sure. She had not been nice. He'd had a hard time convincing her of his own sincerity in wanting to see his child. Daddy had thrown money at him just to go away, but he knew that neither daddy nor daughter had really bought his story.

He had resolved to not dip into that well again unless it was an emergency. This counted as an emergency. Having to leave Boston in the middle of the night first by train and then by plane under alias's was a testament to how much of an emergency it was. He'd had a string of bad luck in the last year that had started when he met Cookie. Cookie had played him. He'd pretended to be an idiot junkie and then waited for his opportunity. That was the only explanation David could come up with for Cookie's disappearance with a stash worth more than his and Cookie's life. He had trusted Cookie because he had thought of him as too much of an idiot to actually take any of it,. Then Cookie had disappeared and the stash disappeared with him.

Now he was on the run, forced to break into a house that had very little valuables. It did have credit cards, hidden oh so cleverly in a drawer. Unfortunately it was a woman's name, Muriel Adamason. He had cursed the discovery but ultimately he could work with it. He would say it was a family name. It was old enough sounding that he thought he could get away with saying it had been some distant ancestor's name. Wasn't it like Marion? Couldn't it be both a man and a woman's name?

He hadn't needed the story. The pretty young thing at the cash register had reacted to his smile and barely glanced at the credit card as she swiped it. Maybe his luck was changing. It had to. He gave the girl one last smile and made sure to graze her hand as he picked up his purchases. He went out to the car he had rented using Muriel's credit card and placed his purchases in the trunk. He grabbed the pullover, nice and new and pulled it over his head. He dusted himself off, took a deep breath and got into the car. He would use the drive time to get into the role.

It had taken him some time to track her down. He had only wanted to confirm her address, but apparently while she still owned the house he had visited her at four years ago, she had moved into another house across the street. She was listed as one of the owners and he wondered at that. Maybe she was expanding from surgery to real estate. It didn't matter. She still had money, he still had leverage and so he drove, listening to the bland voice of the GPS system as it guided him to the correct house. He smiled.

A part of him was looking forward to seeing her, just because it was her and he had always liked her. He might even insist on seeing his daughter. He shook his head. No, he didn't want that. This only worked because she wasn't his daughter. He had never wanted to think of her like that. He was a donor. She had been a genetic mistake. Sometimes though, sometimes he wondered what their life would have been like, had he left the drugs behind and stayed. He drove in silence trying to push those thoughts far away and concentrate on the role he was embarking on.

* * *

Continued in Chapter 6


	6. Chapter 6

**TITLE:**** Family (Chapter 6)  
AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. **

**Author's Note: Thanks for the useful and encouraging comments. It**** i****s one ****of the ****thing****s**** I love about this space - very little meanness****. Wanted to clarify a couple of things for people. I think meanmanic was confused over Callie's parents' reaction because at the end of **_**Just a Simple Love Story**_** they seemed fine. I think the confusion there is in the timeline and how I ended Simple Love Story. The Epilogue for that fic was set in the future and after the events of this current fic, so that's why we are seeing Callie's father not being okay. It's a strange way to organize things and for that I apologize. I believe I cleared up Calliebian's confusion although there is still one lingering question out there that I will attempt to fix if I end up rewriting. Sorry this has been such a disappointment folks, but I did warn you all that it would be.**

**  
It has been suggested to me that perhaps this fanfic is not really good enough to post yet. While I ponder that and decide what my next course of action will be, I'll post the next chapter which I think is okay. Then again - it is part of this shaky little piece so who knows. I just want to make clear that despite my own disappointment with this piece, I do care about what I'm writing. Like everything else in life there are highs and lows and for whatever reason this fic has been more of a struggle than my past attempts. That doesn't mean I care about it less. I'm holding off on posting additional chapters until I decide whether I want to do a complete rewrite, continue making minor fixes, or abandon the piece altogether. **

Chapter 6

Callie was having a good day. After two not so nice days of fighting with her father, she was grateful to finally have a good day. Her surgeries had gone perfectly, there had been no weird complications, no coding patients, just nice smooth surgeries where everything looked like it was supposed to look and behaved like it was supposed to behave. She had a new tag along intern that she could count on in Lexi and she knew that Erica's schedule had cleared up, so Erica had gone home early. It was rare, especially for Erica, to have her schedule open up unexpectedly, but they had learned long ago not to question such rare opportunities. She was on her way home now as well.

Setting aside the nasty fight with her father, her personal life was good too. Her brother had recently moved to Seattle, a fact that had her a bit perplexed, but she was endeavoring to do as Erica had suggested and stop trying to find the hidden meaning behind his move. She was trying to just enjoy the fact that they were now in the same city. Still it bothered her. He had transferred to Seattle, but his work here was not as exciting as it had been in D.C.. He he had just shrugged off her concerns that it was a step back in his career claiming he felt the need to be close to family because he was lonely. Maybe it was true.

Her mother had taken her coming out well or at least she had not disowned her. Her and Erica were great and it was only a matter of time before they figured out Allie's adoption. Things were good or at least that's how she was choosing to think about them right now. She couldn't think about that fight with her father She had to believe he would get over it.

She was on autopilot mindlessly making the required stops and turns while trying hard to think about what they had in the fridge that she could turn into dinner when her phone chirped. She reached across the car seat for her bag and the pocket where she kept her phone. Eyes on the road she found it by touch and brought it out. She flipped it open quickly. It was a text message from Danielle.

_Call me now!_

She frowned.

* * *

The knocking was weird. Erica wasn't expecting anyone and the neighbors weren't in the habit of stopping by. The only other person it could be was Diego, but he never knocked. She turned off the water leaving the rinsing of the lunch dishes for later and dried her hands. She walked out of the kitchen and glanced upstairs briefly making sure she heard the sound of kids playing upstairs before approaching the door.

She looked through the window wanting to identify who it was before opening the door, but the person's identity would remain a mystery. It wasn't anyone she knew. She examined the man standing outside. He was tall, neatly cut blonde hair hung about his face stylishly. Broad shouldered and fit, he was wearing expensive looking jeans and shoes with a grey pullover. He was looking around, hands in his pockets. Guessing he might be a religious freak disguised as a normal looking person, Erica considered not answering for a moment but his eyes turned toward the window. There was no avoiding it now. She reached for the door handle and pulled it open.

"Can I help you?" she asked not caring that it didn't sound friendly.

"Hi! Hey…um…sorry I was expecting…Does a Callie Torres live here? I think I might have the wrong house."

"No, this is the right house," answered Erica intrigued. "Can I help you?" she repeated.

"Is she here?" he asked ignoring her question.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but I don't know you, so I'm not answering any more questions until you answer mine. I know everyone Callie knows and I don't know you."

"Then I guess you don't know everyone she knows, do you?" he said with just a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Mom!"

Erica turned around to see Allie coming down the stairs towards her. "Princess, Mom's a little busy," she said as she petted Allie's head and caressed her face.

"But Lucas won't let me have any blue Legos."

"Tell Lucas he has to share. I'll be up un a minute and help both of you look for more blue Legos, okay?"

Allie nodded and trotted back up the stairs. Erica turned to the man still standing at her front door.

"Yours?" he asked.

"Callie's not here. If you know her I suggest you call before invading her home."

"Sorry, I'm not invading, just an old friend. My name's David. David Gentry," he said extending his hand.

The bottom dropped out of Erica's world. She tried to remain impassive, not wanting him to see how his presence had affected her. He withdrew his hand when it became clear she was not going to shake it and looked around nervously.

"Tell Callie I'll be by. Do you know if she'll be home later?"

"I'll tell her you were here," said Erica carefully and closed the door.

___________________

Diego rounded the corner and picked up his pace, intending to sprint the rest of the way. He extended his body, lengthening his strides, pumping his arms high and extending his kick. He was in a groove now and concentrated on maintaining nice regular intervals of breath. He was approaching his destination, his sister's old house. She had been intending to sell it before he had shown up asking if he could rent it out for awhile, so it was currently his home.

He spared a glance at the house across the street, the house his sister now called home wanting the visual reassurance that everything was okay. He had been in Seattle a few weeks and nothing had happened since he had arrived, but he expected that the anvil would drop some day soon. He had gotten into the habit of always glancing towards his sister's home every time he left the house or came home. Like every other time he had done it, the house appeared normal. There were no police cars out front, no ambulances or fire trucks. He didn't want to see such vehicles parked out there, but in his world when tragedy struck, those vehicles were the clean-up crew, so they would be the sign that something was amiss.

He glanced quickly not wanting to break his stride too early, but he was slowing now and so he looked again lingering for a longer moment this time. Something was out of place. He squinted. There was someone at the door. He unconsciously veered in the direction of the house wanting a closer look. Suddenly Diego knew who was at the door. All rational thought went somewhere else. He picked up his pace again without thought and turned his body fully in the direction of his sister's home. He saw the door close seconds before he reached his target.

Diego barreled into him grabbing David by his fluffy sweater and using his momentum to slam him into the brick wall of the garage. Diego was breathing hard, but he did not feel his ragged breaths. He saw shock descend on David's face and felt the air leave David's lungs with an audible grunt. A forearm to his neck kept David in place and silent.

"Goodbye David. Do you know what that means? It means you leave. I don't want to see you here. I will rip your fucking balls off if I see you anywhere near this place or anywhere my sister happens to be. Do you understand, you piece of shit?"

There was fear in David's eyes which sent a jolt of pleasure down Diego's spine and he almost smiled. But David's face was changing. It happened quickly, the change from fear to amusement.

"Hello little brother," he hissed out.

Diego was already on a hair-trigger. He wanted to spit. He wanted to pummel this guy into oblivion, disappear him from his sister's life. He braced himself, setting his feet, preparing to do just that when he heard the front door open and someone call his name.

________________

Erica leaned against the door and mentally willed her heart to quit beating so damn hard. She didn't need that. She needed calm. She needed to think. Options raced through her head. Should she call Danielle who was handling Allie's guardianship and had been looking into the obstacles surrounding Allie's adoption? Should she call Callie? She didn't know how Callie would react. She needed to start with Callie, as upsetting as this was going to be, she needed to hear Callie's voice. Decision made, she started to walk away in search of her phone when she heard voices from the other side of her door. She turned fearing for a moment that Callie had come home early and encountered David.

She opened the door hurriedly, surprised to see the other Torres in front of her house with an arm to David's throat getting ready to pounce.

"Diego!" she shouted.

He hesitated, halting whatever he had been about to do.

"Get back in the house," he shouted at her never taking his eyes off David.

"That doesn't work on your sister and it has even less of an effect on me," she said stepping outside and closing the door behind her.

"Erica, I've got this. Get back inside."

She was tempted to do just that, let Diego do what he wanted, but it was a fleeting thought.

"If I thought it would help, I'd do that, but it won't." She walked over to him. "Let him go, Diego."

Diego relented after a few tense seconds. He pushed off of David with more force than was necessary. David keeled over immediately grabbing his chest and neck. Erica stood next to Diego. She wanted to tell David to leave Callie alone, leave them alone, but David didn't know who she was and so she felt out of place in this drama with no role to play.

"You're an asshole," said David to Diego. "You're always hiding behind that badge aren't you? Hiding those violent tendencies of yours behind the job. One of these days someone's gonna put a bullet in you and you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna go out and have a big fat juicy steak with the guy who does it."

"Leave. Leave and don't come back," said Diego.

David finally straightened his body, but he still seemed to be struggling to breathe. He took a few big gulps of air before beginning to make his way back to his car.

"Tell Callie, I'll be back," he said over his shoulder.

They watched in silence until he got in his car and drove away. Neither of them spoke or looked at each other for a few minutes. Finally Erica found her voice. She was staring at the space where David's car had been, arms crossed.

"That's why you're here, isn't it? You knew he was coming," she said turning to look at him.

Diego looked like he still wanted to punch something. He met her gaze.

"Yeah, that's why. Callie can't know he's here."

"What? Diego I'm not keeping this from her. I can't. First, she has a right to know and second, I'm not good at keeping things from her."

"You don't understand," he said running his hands through his hair. "He fucking shows up and it sets her back, he takes her back there, he hurts her all over again. She can't stand the idea that it was all a game to him, a ploy. My sister wants to believe he loved her once and he uses that against her. She wants to believe it was love. It wasn't. Not for him. That asshole knew what he was doing from the beginning."

"Diego"

"NO! I've never seen her as happy as she is with you. Never Erica, not even before David. She looks at you and she glows. She's happy. He'll just make her miserable again. I can't let that happen."

"Diego you can't make that decision for her. I love Callie and she makes me happy too. I'm not going anywhere. David or no David, I'm here for her. I will do everything in my power to make your sister happy. David is not going to mess with that. I won't let him, but I can't keep this from her. I don't think I could keep even small things from her, but this…this is impossible to keep from her. She needs to know. As much as we both want to, we can't make him disappear and he is here."

"I can't tell her Erica. I can't," he said.

"I'll tell her," said Erica softly.

Diego said nothing. He stood staring at his shoes, letting the moment pass into silence once more.

After a few minutes, Erica broke the silence again.

"How much, Diego?"

"What?" he asked turning to face her.

Erica was staring at the house across the street.

"Find out how much he wants for his daughter. I'm not a rich woman, Diego, but I have some money. Investments, retirement accounts…He's been bought off before, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure throwing all of your savings at him would make him go away forever. My father's already tried that."

"Your father gave him money to drop custody suits, correct?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Let's see if we can't get something a little more permanent out of him."

Diego did not respond.

"Find out," she said and then walked back through her front door.

* * *

Callie frowned into the phone. Obviously Danielle wanted to talk to her. She wondered if something had happened with the adoption. Last thing she had heard was that they were stalled while they figured out what to do about the David problem. Actually she had to figure out what to do about the David problem. It was up to her to decide whether they should proceed with finding him and getting him to give up his parental rights.

She was curious so she started to dial, hating that she would know whatever news Danielle had first. She knew Erica was slightly frustrated with the process or rather frustrated that she could do nothing. It was all her and Danielle and apart from signing the papers that would transfer guardianship from Diego to Erica, Erica's role had been minimal. Lucas had been so easy. She was already Lucas's adoptive parent and that brought them a step closer, but it still weighed on her that Allie might not get to be adopted by Erica, a prospect that she both hated and feared. She knew paperwork did not make a family, but she wanted the validation, craved it even. She sighed. They would get there. They had to. Suddenly there was a click.

"Hey Danielle, its Callie."

She listened to Danielle's slightly frantic voice and was tempted to pull over. Danielle was usually as calm as Erica and she was definitely not calm now.

"What are you talking about? I haven't hired another attorney." She listened in some shock and confusion at Danielle's attempted explanation.

"What? I don't know who that is." Danielle was making no sense.

"No! Danielle I would never do that to you. That person - whoever she is - is not my attorney!" She shook her head as if Danielle could see her. "I don't care what she's claiming, I don't know who she is."

She had no idea why someone would show up claiming to be her attorney and she was just as concerned as Danielle, but she needed to see Erica. This day had just gotten weird and when things got like this, she needed Erica.

"I can't go over there right now. I'm on my way home and I just... I just need to see Erica."

She listened intently to Danielle's questions shocked once again. "No! Do not give that woman my phone number. I don't know who she is, Danielle!"

She frowned as she continued to listen. _Jesus would this weirdness ever end?_

"My father? How does she know my father?" she asked. Apparently the day could get weirder.

"Well, he can unhire her! I don't know anything about this person, Danielle. Do not give her any information about me." She was shouting into the phone now. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell...I have to go home first Danielle. I'll call you after I talk to Erica."

She ended the call and then quickly punched in Erica's number, but Erica was not answering her phone. She tried again reasoning that Erica might not have heard her the first time, but still all she got was Erica's voice mail. She hung up and tossed the phone into the front seat, pressing the gas pedal a little harder. She needed to get home. She needed Erica.

* * *

As soon as she walked into their house, she knew something was amiss. She threw her bag on the couch and called out, but the house seemed empty. She went into the kitchen glad to see the coffee maker churning along and the scent of cinnamon in the air. Erica would not just leave the coffee pot going, so she had to be here. She poked her head outside the kitchen calling out all their names. She tried the kids first, but it was too quiet for them to be in the house. She went to the stairs and projected her voice.

"Erica?' she questioned as worry started setting in that something was not right. The kids should be here and clearly weren't and Erica should have answered by now. She had one foot on the steps when she heard light footsteps and paused looking up. Erica was at the top of the stairs. They smiled at each other before Erica started making her way down. Something changed on the way down. Her face became taut, thin lips barely moving on her impassive face. Something was definitely wrong.

"Erica? Is everything okay? Kids okay?" she asked approaching her and placing her hands on Erica's waist.

Erica reached for the hands at her waist and squeezed. "The kids are okay. They're across the street with Diego. I have something... I have...news..." she started to say, but before she could finish, Callie was laughing.

"Oh god, you really scared me. I thought for a minute something was really wrong. I already know. Danielle told me."

"Danielle? But I didn't…Danielle doesn't know..."

"I know. No one knows who she is, but we think my father sent her, which is weird since we had that big fight, so why would he think I need a lawyer?"

"You do need a lawyer," said Erica point blank.

"I have a lawyer. Her name is Danielle, remember?" said Callie as she walked over to the couch. She thought about sitting, but remained standing.

Erica was slow in joining her and that had Callie's stomach doing flips again.

"A lawyer?" asked Erica looking very confused as she finally took a seat on the couch.

"Yeah, she told me about the lawyer that showed up claiming she was my lawyer. I think my father sent her. I told Danielle to send her away or whatever and tell her that we would talk to her soon. What do you think that's about?"

"Danielle says your Dad sent a lawyer?"

"Yeah. Isn't that what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"No. Come sit down," said Erica patting the couch. "Danielle wasn't the only one who had a visitor today."

Callie was trying to remain calm, but Danielle's phone call had put her on edge. She didn't understand why her father was sending her a lawyer. Sending his lawyer after her to sort out the trust issues, that she could understand, but sending her a lawyer? That was just strange. She sat facing Erica.

"You didn't have a lawyer visit you too, did you?" she asked apprehensively.

"No," said Erica. "Forget the lawyers," Erica said somewhat impatiently. She stopped and seemed to consider something. "Is Danielle sure the lawyer was sent by your Dad?"

"No, the person didn't say exactly, I guess. She just kept saying she was my lawyer."

"And Danielle's sure of that? That she was saying she was your lawyer, not someone else's."

"Erica, I don't know how sure she was. I only know what she told me. She said that a woman showed up claiming to be my lawyer."

"Yours, right? Not Allie's or someone else's?"

"That's what Danielle siad. Why would someone claim to be Allie's lawyer? What's going on? Who came to see you?"

Erica took a breath and Callie could tell she wanted to look away and was forcing herself not to. She took Callie's hand in hers and opened her mouth to speak, but for a long time nothing seemed to come out. Finally she closed it, gave Callie's hand a tight squeeze and tried again.

"David showed up here this afternoon. David Gentry was how he introduced himself. He said he wanted to see you."

Callie felt the color drain from her face in seconds. She felt her stomach drop and her heart rate go erratic.

"That....that doesn't make sense. What would he be doing here? Why now? I don't...Are you sure? Of course you're sure."

"I've never met the man before, but your brother seemed to recognize him."

Callie nodded. Her head was spinning, so she clung to Erica's hand like a lifeline, afraid that if she let go, her whole body would match her brain and spin wildly out of control. She searched for words, but it was hard going among the muck and mire swimming in her head. Her thoughts whirred past and she couldn't grasp a single one, so she gave up the fight and concentrated on forming new ones, on pushing out the whirs and blurs and just saying something, anything.

"What..." she cleared her throat. "What did he want?"

"He didn't say. He just said he wanted to see you. He saw Allie though."

Callie's head shot up. "What? Erica, how could you let me him see her? I don't want him to ever see her. He's never asked and I don't think he cares, but I just..."

She had let go of Erica's hands and got up walking to the window.

"Callie, I didn't know who he was when I answered the door. She came to the door to ask me a question before I knew who he was." Erica paused. "For what its worth, he didn't seem to recognize her. He even asked if she was mine."

"Of course she's yours. She's as much yours as Lucas." Callie moved trembling fingers to massage a throbbing temple. "I'm sorry. It's not your fault. It's just... Jesus, just when I think our lives have calmed down, everything just seems to be blowing up around us. First my Dad and then this mystery lawyer and now David." She stared out the window for a moment trying to work it all out.

"Do you think this lawyer is his and not mine?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"I don't know, sweetheart," said Erica. She looked uncomfortable, like she had no idea what to do with herself. "Maybe we should try and find out."

Callie shook her head. "Baby steps. This big gigantic problem needs baby steps to resolve." She laughed. "That sounds like something my father would say." There was a pause in the conversation. "Okay," she said walking over to Erica and cupping her worried face. "Thank you," she said and kissed her soundly. "Thank you for being you," she finished as her lips pulled away.

"I haven't done anything," said Erica sounding a bit exasperated. "But come on, lets call Danielle. We'll do as you say and take this one step at a time."


	7. Chapter 7

**ITLE: Family (Chapter 7)  
AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. **

**Author's Note: Picking up the pace. I actually like this chapter – especially the new character. As always, all mistakes are mine. Thanks for reading.**

Chapter 7 

Hours later, four adults sat around a dining room table, each with tired and frustrated faces. The kids had been treated to dinner by Diego who had returned with them to find Callie and Erica in an awkward kind of meeting with their lawyer and another woman he did not recognize. She was short, a little over 5 feet he guessed, with thin straight red hair that went just beyond her shoulders. She carried herself with confidence, but every once in awhile he saw her eyes flicker. It was a small thing, but he was an investigator and most of the job was learning how to read people. That small flicker said a lot. It said that she was not as confident as she was trying to present herself, that she worried about how others perceived her perhaps or maybe she wondered if she was doing a good enough job. The doubts flashed most often when Danielle or Erica spoke. They were naturals at taking over a room, taking charge of situations and that was when he saw that flicker. He did not see it when Callie spoke. When Callie spoke it was not without a lack of confidence, but Callie was more clearly on a reconnaissance mission. She was gathering information. That was how she operated. Danielle and Erica made judgments and decisions as they gathered information. Callie reserved judgment until the last possible moment and so in this room, she seemed like the more friendly face, a fact he was sure the redhead had picked up on.

He had ushered the kids upstairs hurriedly, using a serious tone he rarely displayed with them, when they began protesting that they wanted to say hello to their moms. Kids were perceptive as hell and those two were both smart. They knew something was up. He had pushed them up the stairs and sent them to play with toys, promising to send their moms up soon.

"So my father hired you to help me with a custody battle even I knew nothing about?"

"Look, Ms. Torres, I don't know anything about your relationship with your father and it's not my place to know. He hired me to take you on as a client. I'm trying to do that. He seemed to think your ex-husband..." she shook her head as soon as Erica straightened in her seat ready to pounce. She put up a hand hoping to stave off Erica's protests. "I apologize, I know, he's not your ex-husband. Your father seemed to think David Gentry and you were going to have a custody issue. The words "were going to" suggest something in the future. I don't know why he thought that, but he did. He hired me to make sure that whatever issue was going to arise came out in your favor. I'm trying to do that. I realize that you have a lawyer already, which says to me that you are also aware of a potential custody issue involving your daughter. I suggest we work together to make sure he does not gain custody."

"Excuse me, but we did not hire Danielle to settle a custody issue, but to allow me to adopt Allie. This issue with David is new, new as of today. You still haven't answered our question which is how you or whoever hired you knew that David was going to show up when we only knew about that situation today. I suggest you answer that question before you start barking out orders about what we should be doing," said Erica barely containing a sneer.

She sounded harsh. Even Diego shuddered at the tone, but apparently the short woman was not that easily intimidated.

"I've tried explaining that I don't know. I was hired yesterday and told to get on a plane. Danielle was listed as the attorney handling the legal guardianship issue, so I thought I would start by contacting her."

At the sound of her name, Danielle interjected.

"I think we're losing sight of the issue here. David showing up is an opportunity. It's an opportunity to get him to give up his parental rights which will open the door to Erica becoming Allie's legal parent. Let's try and focus on the positives here. He's here now. There's nothing we can do about that. Instead of wasting time trying to figure out who knew what when, let's try and find out what he wants and move on from there."

Erica sighed. She looked to Callie almost as if she was asking for permission to speak, a fact that surprised Diego as he stood observing and looking for an opportunity to inform them that he was back and that the kids were upstairs.

"I get what you're saying Danielle, but I still need to know how this all came about and I'd like Elaine to tell us," said Erica.

Diego had been afraid Erica wouldn't let that go. He took a deep breath, cleared his throat loudly and entered the lion's den.

"Um...I think that may be...my fault," he said somewhat reluctantly. Erica shot him a look. "You are responsible for this?" asked Erica pointing at Elaine.

""Yeah, see I think Dad might have gotten wind of David because of me."

"Because of you?" asked Erica incredulous. "You told him and you didn't tell us?"

He cringed. "Not exactly, but Mom asked me about the sudden move and I might have hinted that I was worried. She probably guessed the rest and I imagine she told Dad."

"Son of ....." said Callie. "You knew about this Diego?"

He looked at his shoes as he backed into the doorway. "Callie I...." He nodded. "I just couldn't...I didn't want it to be true," he finally got out. He was expecting to get slapped or punched or yelled out, but she made no move to get up and instead turned her attention to Erica.

"So he tells me I'm an abomination and then sends me a freaking lawyer? What the hell?"

It was as if Erica had been given the go ahead.

"This is insane, Callie. He can't just continue trying to control your life. I know he's your father, but this is crazy. He doesn't control you and he doesn't control this family."

"I know that Erica," said Callie sharply. She paused. "I'm sorry, I didn't..."

"No, you're right. I was out of line. He's your father. I have nothing to do with that."

What Erica was saying sounded so rational, noted Diego. Her face however was expressing strong emotions that were not in line with the calm rationality she had uttered. He couldn't quite decipher it. It was like guitar strings, her face, taut and tight and getting wound up even tighter.

"You know that's not what I meant," said Callie reaching for her. Erica did not react. She didn't breath, she didn't move a muscle and she was not looking at Callie.

Diego shifted in his shoes. He wanted to leave. This was obviously getting to be something that should be private, something personal between his sister and her partner and he no longer wanted to be standing anywhere near them. Besides that he was afraid that his sister-in-law might accidentally on purpose try to cut his heart out. He looked at the other two women in the room who he sensed felt just as uncomfortable. Danielle's gaze met his. She gave him a questioning look for a moment before starting to gather her notepad. Elaine took her cue from Danielle and started gathering the few things she had laid out on the dining room table.

Erica noticed the movement and turned her attention to them. "Why don't we just discuss this another time? I think we need to get all the facts together before we make any decisions."

"I agree," said Danielle hurriedly. "How about my office, tomorrow afternoon? I have a motion call at 9:00 AM and a few meetings, but I can open up my afternoon."

"That's fine with me," said Elaine turning to Callie. "You're my client, Ms. Torres. For what it's worth, your father is not, so I'll be taking direction from you as well as giving you advice."

"He's paying you though, right?" asked Callie with a hint of sarcasm.

Elaine looked at her briefcase. "Yes, he is, but it doesn't change the fact that you are my client. He made that very clear to me. You're the boss here."

"Fine tomorrow afternoon is fine, but Erica what about your surgeries?"

Erica seemed to be surprised she was being asked anything. She looked up." I spoke to Yang before you got home. I've moved my major surgeries for early morning so I'm available in the afternoon."

For a few moments the only sounds in the room were the soft somewhat chaotic sounds of papers shuffling, bags zipping and clicking and coats rustling. Diego didn't know if he should stay or go. He looked at Erica, but her gazed was fixated on the table.

"If you want me there," she muttered.

Callie sighed. "Of course I want you there."

Yep, it was time for him to go. He glanced at Callie and then back to Erica. She looked doubtful, even as she acknowledged Callie's words with a small smile.

He watched everyone say awkward goodbyes and thought to where everything had stood a few days ago. A few days ago, they had celebrated Allie's' birthday. There had been cake and good food and laughter, lots of laughter. There had been snide looks from his sister at the gift he had gotten Allie and gentle teasing between her and Erica. A few days ago everything had seemed perfect. His sister was happy. Today she was worried and scared and anxious and she was doing what she always did when she got that way. She was turning inward, digging deeper inside herself, trying to find that spot that she could hide in where the hurt would not find her; except she didn't have to. She was doing it anyway and in the process she was leaving him and Erica and everyone else that cared about her out. He had seen it before. When all the crap had gone down with David, he had witnessed her retreat into herself. And when Allie was born, she delved even further. Eventually she felt confident enough emotionally to come back out, but it took her forever and he never quite felt that his sister had returned to him fully; until recently, until Erica and Lucas and Allie and her had made this family. It was only in the last few months that he felt her old self return. He didn't want to see another retreat. He sighed and made to join the crowd leaving.

Erica almost held him back. He saw her lift her head when he went to join the others at the door and stare hard at him. He thought she might ask him to stay, ask him to explain how he could hint at something so important to his mother who would most certainly tell his father without informing them first. She had a point and he knew it. Later he would explain his desire that the things he suspected not come to pass. How he had wished that he was over-reacting. Today, she would not be especially open to hearing that from him. He would go and let Erica and Callie re-establish their bond. They needed to re-group because he was convinced they would not survive whatever was ahead without each other.

* * *

The next day Erica was pouting and being a bit of a baby. She knew it. Callie knew it and so did Danielle. She couldn't seem to help it. At every turn she had started to feel cut out of this process. What should have been a happy thing that would make them a family had turned into a nightmare for her and it was only going to get worse. That little viper Elaine Knott was not going to give Callie good news. Anything that had required her to step out of the room could not be good.

The woman who had shown up at Danielle's Office yesterday claiming to be Callie's lawyer had caused quite the confusion and despite the fact that everything seemed cleared up, Erica was still suspicious. As far she was concerned, they still didn't really know who she was. The woman had not been exactly forthcoming with Danielle. Ms. Knott had waited until she was in their home to tell them the whole story yesterday; how she had been hired to help with the whole David problem by Callie's ever helpful father. He yells at his daughter, practically throws books and pamphlets containing all sorts of religious crap at her head, tells her he's cutting her off from the family and then just throws them the most unsympathetic, callous and cold lawyer he could find to "help" with the custody.

She paced outside the conference room trying hard not to let the ugliness that David Gentry had brought into her life get to her. He was just a normal person that had something she wanted. She just needed to find a way to get it from him. Finally tired of the pacing, she sat on a hard bench just outside the room where Callie was discussing something that should concern the both of them. It was a meeting she had fully intended to participate in, but had been asked to leave.

She had looked at Callie when Elaine asked her to step outside, wanting Callie to protest. Callie had, but it had seemed a reluctant objection to Erica. She had squeezed Erica's hand as they heard Elaine ask again and then Callie had relented to Elaine's suggestion and also asked her to step outside.

"Please," Callie had almost whispered. "Let's just do this and get it over with. I'll tell you everything as soon as it's over."

At least the second sentence had not been whispered. She was pretty sure Elaine had heard it. And so she had done as Callie asked. She had looked at Callie and Callie only before bowing to the inevitable. She tried hard not to slam the door, but it closed forcefully just the same. And now she sat, elbows on knees, fingers laced together, trying hard not to be mad about being asked to leave. Callie had promised to tell her everything, she kept reminding herself.

Finally, Callie flew out of the room. The door flapped open wildly and her face looked pale. She looked for Erica who had already risen from her seat.

"We need to go. I need... I just need to be somewhere with you."

Erica needed no other entreaty. She had plenty of questions, but didn't need another reason to take Callie in her arms and far away from cold walls and hard benches. Callie buried her face in Erica's shoulder and wrapped arms around her waist.

Danielle made a somewhat disheveled appearance, her coat hanging from her body, one sleeve off the other on.

"Callie, it's only an option. You don't have to do this. We can take our chances."

Callie lifted her head from Erica's shoulder. "I can't Danielle. I can't think about this craziness now," she said before laying her head back down.

"What the hell is going?" asked Erica loudly.

"It's the only option Callie. You can't win this fight with a gay lover standing by your side."

Erica instinctively pulled Callie closer. "What?" she snarled at the short redhead standing at the door. Of all of the three occupants that had walked out of that room, Elaine looked the most together. She had on an overcoat that was tailored to her small stature and looked neat and pressed. Erica wanted to squash her like a bug.

"Will you quit it!" said Danielle as she continued to struggle with her jacket. "Plenty of gay parents win custody cases in this state. This is what I do and I'm good at it, so quit the scare tactics."

"He could petition to remove. Allison wasn't born here. He doesn't live here. It's not unreasonable."

"It is unreasonable, Allie lives here," said Danielle turning her back on Elaine.

"Callie, let's talk about this."

"Not now, Danielle. I can't."

Danielle patted her shoulder and gave Erica a sympathetic look. Erica did not return it. She glared at Danielle and then turned an icy stare at Elaine.

"What did you do?" she asked in her most careful and controlled voice.

"I'll let her tell you, but mark my words. If you want to win Callie, get rid of the gay lover."

Elaine's words triggered a response and a number of things happened at once. Danielle, who had known Erica for awhile and had guessed at what Erica's reaction would be to such a statement, slid in front of the much smaller Elaine. Callie's hands tightened around Erica's waist even as Erica was pushing Callie away and surging toward a somewhat surprised Elaine.

Erica had had enough. She'd had enough of some idiot drug dealing sperm donor messing with her life. She'd had enough of Callie's father upsetting her and she'd definitely had enough of stupid morons who matter-of-factly talked about her like she was something that could be easily brushed aside. Well actually, she just wanted to throttle people and this short little person was nearby. She let her emotions carry her until she was out of Callie's grasp and facing a determined Danielle.

"Seriously, let's just all back the hell off!" shouted Danielle her hands out in front of her, her body still in front of the visibly frightened Elaine who had instinctively moved closer to her reluctant protector.

"Get out of my way," said Erica enunciating every word clearly.

"Erica, please don't. I just want to go home. I don't want to be here anymore," said Callie a hand on Erica's back.

Erica felt them trembling. Those hands were as familiar to her as her own hands. She knew when those hands were trembling with fear and when they were trembling for more pleasant reasons. Shoulders slumped; she turned to Callie and cupped her face.

"Okay," she said placing a light kiss on dry lips that nevertheless melted into her. Without another word to either Danielle or the bitch she was standing in front of, she wrapped arms around Callie and led her to the stairs. They would work it out. They always did and she knew they always would.

* * *

The pen in her hand was flipping back and forth and up and down her fingers rapidly. Callie was staring at her nervously, trying to explain about Elaine's strategy. She had put it off for a day. No matter how many times Erica had asked her, she had not wanted to talk about it yesterday. She had snuggled up close to Erica and insisted on watching a movie with the kids surrounding them. She talked with them and laughed at their silly jokes and smiled at Erica and kissed her and told her she loved her.

It wasn't an act, but she was holding back a lot. That had been okay. Erica was not really that patient, but with Callie, everything was just different. So she had decided to enjoy the laughter and the snuggling. Callie would tell her when she was ready. And now she understood why Callie had been reluctant to discuss it yesterday, why she had been so upset.

"She wants us to break-up?"

"Pretend to break up, actually. She says I shouldn't even mention you to David at all and that even if he finds out that we were in a relationship, I could just say it was a phase or something. Just until he agrees to give up his rights."

"Did you say anything to him when he called?' asked Erica. He had called this morning while Callie was at the hospital, a fact that had put Erica on edge.

"No, I don't want to tell him anything about my life until I know what he wants. I'm not even showing him a picture of Allie, even though this is the first time he's asked to see one."

Erica raised an eyebrow at that. "He's never asked?" she asked incredulous.

"Never." Callie paused. "It did make me wonder. You know? Why would he ask now? Do you think it's possible that maybe a part of him is sincere? You know he's not a monster, despite what Diego says."

"No one is suggesting he's a monster," said Erica somewhat testily. No, he probably wasn't a monster, but he was also not a sincere good guy who'd had a sudden change of heart about wanting to be a daddy. She knew that much.

Callie moved closer to her on the couch. Diego had taken the kids for ice cream. "I know that and I know he doesn't have the best track record, but he is Allie's father."

Erica sighed. She wanted to say the right things. She wanted to not lash out about David in some irrational rant about how he'd never shown an interest in Allie except as a means to an end. She wanted to remind Callie that he hadn't been there for either of them and that he was not offering that this time either, that his motives had never been pure and that if past behavior predicts future behavior, his motives were most likely not pure now. She wanted to remind Callie that he was Allie's biological father but had never been a true father to Allie. But Callie knew all of that. So she sighed and kept her thoughts to herself.

"So what do you think we should do?" asked Callie.

Erica closed her eyes. "What do you want to do? Do you want me and Lucas to go away while you settle things with David?"

"No!"

"Then we won't."

"But...do you think Elaine has a point, that it might be easier if David doesn't know about us? It might be the fastest way to get him to give up his rights and then we don't have to worry about him anymore."

Erica's head had started pounding. She didn't want to be having this conversation. She never imagined she would be. She'd heard about Elaine's plan that they just break-up and not see each other while they sorted out the custody issue, to remove the whole gay problem. She'd heard all of Elaine's arguments from Callie. According to Elaine they needed to be able to threaten him with termination of his parental rights forcefully. Her plan was to offer him money in exchange for him giving up his rights and threatening him with termination if he refused. Elaine thought she could convince him that he would lose his rights regardless if he forced a lengthy trial where his drug use would be front and center and pitted against Callie's medical degree. No room for a gay lover in that scenario, which according to Elaine, would cause them to lose the moral high ground she would try to establish.

A gay lover would give him leverage Elaine didn't want him to have, so, she had proposed that they "break-up" and that Erica leave the house.

"Callie, either I stay or go. That's the choice here. What about Danielle? What's her position? Does she think we can win?"

"She thinks we have chance, but that there's always risk."

"Risk that we could lose? What would we lose?"

"He would get his rights, you wouldn't get to adopt Allie and more. Visitation. She thinks he won't want to risk it though because he would also be responsible for child support for all of these years. She thinks we don't need to deal with the gay issue. Doesn't think it will matter because, based on his past behavior, he won't want to pay out the money he owes, which regardless of anything that could happen he'd still owe."

"But if he wins full custody, he wouldn't have to pay, right?"

Callie paused. "Not sure, but Danielle says with his history he's unlikely to win full custody."

"Unlikely isn't a guarantee."

"Nothing is guaranteed, Erica."

Erica sighed again. She rubbed her head putting pressure on her temples with her fingers. She hated this. There were too many variables, too many things that could go wrong. She should be used to this. It was like surgery, a game of probabilities. If everything goes right, the procedure is easy and solves the problem it was designed to solve. But things hardly ever went completely the way they were supposed to. Machines and humans could not account for every variable, even combined they couldn't and so when things went left instead of right it throws everything off. She could handle that in surgery where she had confidence in her ability to deal with whatever came her way better than anyone. She knew when to swerve and when to duck in surgery. When to back off and when to push forward, how much time they had when things went wrong and the options they had to fix whatever problem occurred. But in this situation, she was not an expert. The legal system could be just as unpredictable as medicine. How many times had Danielle told her that? You make all the right arguments, line up all the right witnesses, get all the right experts and still you get a particular judge on a bad day and you lose. There were always appeals, but just like in surgery, in this it was families you were messing with, it was lives. It was Allie who would lose if things went wrong.

"I think you should do what you think is best for Allie," she said and frowned at how vague that sounded.

"What's best for Allie is to be with me and you and Lucas," said Callie.

"Then we have to do everything we can to make sure that happens," said Erica sounding resigned. She knew where this was headed; the safe route. Remove her from the equation. She looked at Callie who was staring at her with sad eyes and opened her arms. Callie crawled into them and let out her own sigh.

"It's going to suck. I don't even know how to go about pretending we're not together."

"Me neither," said Erica and realized, she really didn't.

* * *

Erica would find out soon enough. Elaine had a whole plan and as she sat in her living room and listened to this soft spoken woman calmly tell her she was going to have to move out of her own house as if she was telling her that they needed to get rid of the carpet, she didn't think she had ever disliked someone more. Sure David came close and some of her asshole colleagues were high on her list too, but right now she wanted to beat this woman upside the head. It was like Elaine was separating M&M's and not a family.

The anger was good though. It prevented the tears she knew would come at some point. She and Callie had decided to put their foot down when it came to Lucas. Callie didn't want the kids separated. They would be impacted already by Erica's absence. They didn't want them separated as well. It would be easier to explain Erica not being around as much then a complete separation. David didn't need to know or hear about Lucas and if he asked she would just tell him that he was a cousin's kid who was staying with her for awhile. So Erica would be bunking with Diego across the street. They would need to tell the hospital that they weren't together anymore in case David came around.

Elaine had wanted a total separation, complete with a mock fight in front of the hospital staff. Erica had heard that and just looked at Callie. She wasn't sure how she should be reacting, so she was looking to Callie for guidance a lot. Callie had responded to Elaine's suggestion with a stunned expression.

"Are you freaking kidding me? We are not doing that. Its bad enough we have to lie. I'm not staging a fight."

"It would go a long way towards giving your story creditability," said Elaine calmly.

"She said no," said Erica in a forceful voice. "Besides if we tried to fight, we would screw it all up and make-up right on the spot. No, it's better this way."

Callie intertwined her hands with Erica's. "It's not us. Besides we've had enough drama at the hospital as it is, I don't need Erica throwing things at me too."

Elaine looked from one to the other. "Look, I'm not trying to be mean. I'm being practical. Emotions can't come into this. I know it's hard, but try to leave your emotions elsewhere. They won't help you in this situation. Just play the role and leave feelings out of it." She looked at the papers in front of her and straightened them as she muttered: "People would be much happier if they left feelings out of most things."

"Really?"" said Erica letting her anger surface. "How's that worked out for you? Are you happy burying your emotions where no one can get at them? Because you seem pretty miserable to me."

Elaine turned to her and in that same calm voice in which she said everything, responded. "I'm not miserable. You have to learn to shut yourself off from you emotions. It isn't easy, but it can be done. You just separate yourself from them and they don't control you."

"God, someone did a number on you, didn't they?" said Erica.

Elaine looked visibly uncomfortable. "Can we move on? This isn't about me, it's about you two and how you're going to pull this off. If you want to pull it off, you have to fight or at least stop talking at work. You have to sell it. I guarantee you that once David gets an idea of what we want, he'll start snooping or if he doesn't his lawyer will. You have to convince everyone that you aren't together and you better hope he doesn't snoop around too much and finds out about Lucas and who he really is. I still think that's a wrong decision."

"You've lost that battle already, lets not rehash it," said Callie. . "He's my son and Allie is his sister and we're already disrupting their routine as it is. It's not up for debate."

It was the most forceful Callie had sounded in this whole process.

"Fine, but I think it's a mistake. You're thinking with your heart and not your head."

"She's thinking about what's best for Lucas," said Erica softly.

In the end it was all very simple. Erica would take some clothes and move into Callie's old house with Diego. Elaine predicated it would be at least a month, maybe longer before they were in a strong enough position to settle everything. It was not lost on Erica that not too long ago, she was having pizza in the house where she was temporarily relocating to, about to embark on some pretty amazing changes. That she had become a mother to Lucas and was on her way to becoming a second mother to Allie. That she had met the love of her life and that not too far into her future she would be welcoming Allie and Callie into the home Callie helped her find. Now they were going to be there and she was not. She tried not to think of that as she threw clothes in a bag. They had agreed on having dinner every night if she wasn't at the hospital. She would still drive the kids to some of their activities, but none of it would make up for the fact that she would not be here.

She sat heavily on the bed, having no desire to pack anymore clothes. No, she would not. She was not moving. She was just temporarily relocating. She would still be here. So, even if it meant she did laundry everyday and wore the same two or three outfits to the hospital, she would not pack any more. She couldn't. This was her home. She had to be out of it for awhile, but it would remain her home. David would not change that.

Callie was nowhere to be found. She had told Erica she couldn't really see her pack and leave their house and so couldn't imagine the kids seeing it either so she had taken them to the zoo. She would need to have a conversation with Lucas and Allie when they came back and she still hadn't worked out what to say to them. They were smart and old enough to know that when your parents don't live together, it's never good. They'd probably get mad at her. She lay back on the bed and tried to remind herself that this nightmare would not last forever. David would be gone at the end of all of this. That was the prize. She just had to keep it in her sights.

* * *

Continued in Chapter 8


	8. Chapter 8

**TITLE:**** Family (Chapter 6)  
AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. **

**Author's Note: ****And we slow down again. I will never again give characters similar sounding names. Keeping David and Diego straight is killing me. All mistakes are mine. Thanks for reading.**

Chapter 8

Erica was looking at a patient chart. Actually she was staring at it without really looking at it. She knew she had an audience of eager interns watching and waiting. She would keep them waiting for just a bit longer. She didn't need to see the chart to make her assessment, but she wanted to delay having to interact with them. She didn't want to interact with anyone. The only people she could deal with today were patients and if she was honest, she was only barely managing to bite her tongue at the non-compliant ones that wanted her to fix their hearts while they did nothing to improve its condition. An hour ago, she had basically told the guy in 303 that if he didn't start eating better he would die. She had been tempted to get graphic with him, to explain exactly what could happen the next time he ate a 20 ounce steak. The words had been on the tip of her tongue, but she had held back as a flood of melancholy swept over her, unexpected and definitely unwanted. So instead of trying to scare him into compliance, she had written a few notations and walked out of the room. Once outside, the memory of Allie's birthday party had rushed at her and she could do nothing to stop it.

She remembered their fight over the guitar. Callie had argued with her, but in the end, she had relented and Allie had received the guitar she wanted as the special present from her Moms. She remembered that it had been Diego that had given her the winning argument. At least it wasn't a toy, he'd casually commented. She remembered ice cream and balloons and cupcakes, small children running around and Allie's face as she unwrapped her special gift.

That seemed like ages ago. Now everything was a mess. She was "moving" to Diego's tonight and at some point today they would begin this elaborate fabrication Elaine had cooked up. She had been effectively displaced while David Gentry was roaming around somewhere casually poking holes in her life.

She looked up from the chart at the eager interns, fired some unnecessarily difficult questions at them and watched as they looked at each other while their small brains searched for answers. She yelled for a little and felt only a twinge of guilt at the joy she got out of making them just a little miserable. She didn't want to think about niceties today. She was miserable and she didn't care if she was making others miserable as well. They stumbled through attempted answers but before she could start yelling again, she saw Christina walking by and called to her.

"YANG!"

Christina changed directions and walked towards her. Erica slammed the chart into Christina's chest and without another word, without even a glance back she walked away. Christina could handle them. They were her interns anyway. She headed for her office and the small solace it would afford.

* * *

Christina was knocking on her door 45 minutes later. Erica knew it was her and a small part of her was grateful Christina had sought her out. Christina wasn't sentimental and right now she didn't need sentimental, but for once she did feel like talking or maybe she just wanted to vent.

She shouted a tired, "Come in Yang," and leaned back in her desk chair.

Christina entered cautiously. "Dr. Hahn?"

"Problem, Yang?"

"Yeah, what crawled up your ass?"

"David Gentry," said Erica.

Christina face was a blank. "Who?"

"David Gentry. Allie's father. He showed up at our door a few days ago."

"Allie has a father?"

"Of course she has a father."

"No, she doesn't. She has two mothers," said Christina matter-of-factly.

Erica was tempted to smile. It was as touchy feeling as Yang would get.

"So what's his deal?" asked Christina.

Erica rolled her eyes. She knew that part of what was bothering her was that she didn't exactly know what he wanted. She had a feeling that it was bad and not simple and not what he was claiming, but ultimately she didn't know what he was after.

"I don't know. Callie doesn't know either."

Christina remained silent.

"Callie is having lunch with him right now."

"What? Why?" asked Christina.

Erica had asked that very question of Callie. She knew it was unreasonable. She wasn't Callie's keeper, but the idea of Callie being anywhere near this guy was not settling well in her stomach. It was dangerous and she had said so to Callie. Callie had tried to explain that it was the only way to find out what he wanted, but her stuttering nervousness only tightened the knot in Erica's stomach and awoke a little green monster she had no idea was dwelling there. Why having lunch was better than a phone conversation or better yet speaking through their lawyers was a mystery to Erica. Up until that point, David was merely a potential complication in her adoption of Allie. She hadn't been worried about Callie, but in that moment, with a stuttering Callie in front of her, with her impending departure from the house, she had been reminded of another time when Callie had stuttered through an explanation, when she had taken Allie and run from Erica. And suddenly Erica's worry increased tenfold. It was ridiculous. She knew that, but it didn't stop the irrational fear from mounting. She looked at her watch. It had been a couple of hours since Callie had been gone and Erica had yet to hear from her.

"She wants to talk to him in person," she said to Christina who was still standing looking dumbfounded.

"Why?"

Erica had asked that too when Callie had said she wanted to talk to him. She had not liked Callie's answer then and she hated it even more now. "She feels like she has to."

"Can't they talk on the phone or something? Why does she have to see him?"

"He's Allie's father."

"No, he's not. He donated some sperm. He's not a father."

"Tell that to the state of Washington."

"Why is he even here?"

"Well I'm sure it's not because he missed his daughter, but Callie is trying to find out."

"Well if he's back he's definitely up to something."

"The question is what," said Erica. "Danielle says we need him to give up his parental rights in order to clear the way for the adoption, so that's what we're going to try and do, I guess."

"So Callie's talking to him about giving up his parental rights? Well that's good. Then he can disappear."

"In theory."

"In theory?"

"It's asking a lot. He might not want to."

"Then you have to make him."

Erica frowned. "How do you propose I do that, Yang?"

"Well you could threaten to cut his heart out with a spoon."

Erica was tempted to laugh. She started to smile and then remembered that her wife was out with David fucking Gentry and could only manage a half smile that lasted only seconds. She turned to Yang, hoping Callie would be okay with what she was about to do.

"Listen Yang, we...one of Callie's lawyers thinks its best that I'm not in the picture, so...you may hear some rumors about us. Don't...just go with it."

"Go with what?"

"You'll probably hear that we've broken up."

"You're breaking up? That makes no sense."

"Tell me about it," sighed Erica. "It's all part of the plan. According to Elaine," she said with a sneer, "we need people in the hospital to think we are no longer together, so just go with it, okay?"

Christina shook her head. "Erica, there has got to be a better way of doing this."

Erica put her head in her hands. "Well if you think of one, let Callie know. This isn't really my idea."

She knew she was sounding whiny and pathetic and couldn't help it, not while Callie was out with David and not when she knew she would not be heading to her own house tonight.

"Get your shit together if you want to pull this off," said Yang walking towards the door. "I'll do what I can, but I'm not sure people will buy it. I mean you're Callie and Erica. It's going to take a lot for people to believe you're broken up."

Erica looked up. "I know," she said.

* * *

Erica lay in bed staring at a dark ceiling littered with fading stars. It was three in the morning and she was wide awake doing entirely too much thinking. The first night had been the worst. She hadn't been able to sleep at all in what used to be Allie's old room. Diego had offered her the master bedroom, but she had ignored his offer. She couldn't really talk to him just yet. Besides she wouldn't be here for long. She needed that to be true, because she was not doing well. She was irritable and cranky at work. She wasn't sleeping because frankly it felt weird and awkward to sleep in a smaller bed by herself. She did not like it.

She was convinced that it was the nights that were making everything harder. The sleeplessness didn't help, but that wasn't at the heart of the problem. It was not being there for bedtime and the absence of Callie's familiar warmth that was driving her bitter moods these days. She doubted they were fooling anyone at work, although she knew people were wondering what was going on. She missed Callie and knew Callie missed her. Callie's face would light up when she saw Erica and Erica was pretty darn sure hers expressed the same emotion. It was the only time she was in a halfway decent mood. They had tried not talking at all the first day, but they couldn't help the smiling. Sneaking around supply closets and on-call rooms was getting riskier. Even Christina who was the only hospital person who knew the truth was not helping. Christina's insistence that they were broken up to anyone that questioned it had people wondering about her too, since she was generally known to not care about any hospital relationship dramas.

They had given up the pretense of not talking when people started asking questions. But that wasn't helping with the believability of their whole break-up story. Callie had it worse since she was naturally a much more open person. She'd already had multiple conversations with George and Lexi and even Mark about why they would break-up when they were still so clearly in love. No one dared have that conversation with her. Well, except Mark Sloan. She still wasn't completely comfortable with the guy, but she had to admit he was smart. If the conversations and comments he was directing at her were any indication he would have it all figured out soon enough. She was tempted to just come clean with him too, but Callie had told her they couldn't keep telling people or it wouldn't work. Some days Erica thought it might be easier to tell everyone and let them help in maintaining the fiction that they were broken up. She still wasn't convinced that wasn't the way to go.

It had been a week since she had left the house. Callie's mother had flown in two days after Erica moved out, claiming she wanted to get to know her grandson and spend time with her granddaughter. It was nice of her and a part of Erica appreciated it. She was thankful that Callie had someone to help her with the kids and especially that her mother was apparently willing to defy Callie's father. There had been no word from him since the big fight. He hadn't responded to any of Callie's requests that he explain Elaine. He hadn't responded to Diego's calls either, although according to Callie that hadn't come as a surprise to anyone. Callie's mother had begged everyone to just give him time.

Erica was at the house as much as she thought she could get away with, but it wasn't the same. It was nice that Carmen was in Seattle, but there was a downside. Her presence somehow also intensified in Erica an irrational feeling that things were slipping from her grasp, that she was allowing events to just happen and doing nothing to affect the outcome, that she was reacting instead of acting. She was letting everything get further and further away from her, which left her feeling more and more alone. Elaine and Danielle were working out strategy, Callie met David for lunch and took his calls, the kids spent time with grandma and she went home to an empty house and a cold bed, not a part of any of it.

She knew she had to stop thinking like that. It was a defeatist attitude she had to clamp down on. She had to accept that they were embarking on this crazy idea of Elaine's and just deal with the consequences of that, no matter how much the plan grated on her nerves. It didn't matter that adoption proceedings had come to a halt while the world stopped to deal with David Gentry. It didn't matter that she was currently out of the house. She had to stay focused

At least they hadn't lied to the kids. It had been a week since she had chickened out of that too. She remembered trying to have the conversation with Lucas as he sat on their bed telling her about football after Callie had returned with them from their short trip to the zoo.

"I catch better than most everyone and Uncle Diego says I'm fast. But I can't really throw. Uncle Diego says no one on our team can. We don't get to tackle though like I do with Uncle Diego. Yesterday, yesterday I beat Frankie down the field in practice."

"That's great buddy," she had smiled at him as she continued straightening the room trying not to focus on the bag she had tossed to the side when he had come in. She was perplexed by his obsession with football. The doctor in her found it hard not to think of breaking bones or massive head injuries, but in moments like this it was easy to get caught up in his enthusiasm. She hadn't realized he could play football in the summer, but it was apparently popular so the park district offered it for the younger kids practically every season.

He was bouncing on the bed now. "I can't wait til the first game. Are you gonna come or do you have to work?"

"Of course I'm coming unless there's an emergency. You know that Lucas. Sometimes there are emergencies."

"I know, but it's the first game," he whined.

"There's no other place I'd like to be. Me and your Mommy and Allie will be there."

"Will you bring chairs? Frankie says the families have to bring their own chairs. And snacks, you have to bring snacks."

"Snacks?"

"Yeah for the team."

"For the team? Is this a requirement?"

"Yeah. Mommy knows. Parents take turns."

"Okay, then I guess we're bringing snacks."

"Listen Lucas, we have to talk about something."

"Can I sign up for basketball? Frankie says he plays basketball too and there's still room on his team."

"Do you like basketball?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Uncle Diego says its cool and Frankie plays, so I'll like it too. Its not like football but Uncle Diego says it'll give me aa...gil..ty or something."

"Agility?"

He nodded. "Yep, and that'll help me for football."

He was on his knees bouncing lightly on their bed now. "And then after that soccer I think or do you think baseball? Baseball seems kind of boring and soccer has a lot of running and Uncle Diego says that's good for football."

Erica watched him as she finished putting things in their place. She spared a glance at the bag that held the things she had packed and knew she couldn't do it. She could not tell him or Allie that she was leaving. Instead she picked him up and tossed him on the bed. He was getting a little too big for that, but she loved the laughter. He let out a giggle he couldn't seem to help as he landed on his back and bounced. He popped back up like one of those weighted punching dolls and he was 5 again.

"Again, again!"

So she tossed him again. Allie joined them soon after. She seemed to have a sixth sense about fun being had in the area and gravitated to it. She had eagerly laughed even before climbing on the bed and waiting for her turn.

When Erica's arms grew tired, she declared that they should stop before Mommy discovered what they were up to, which had them once again dissolving into hysterical giggles as they pointed at the door. There standing in the door frame, arms crossed, trying to contain that wonderful smile was Callie.

"You are so busted," said Callie smiling before turning to the kids and ordering them downstairs. They went gladly shouting "Busted, busted" all the way down the stairs.

Erica let out a sigh.

"I take it you didn't tell him."

Erica sat heavily on the bed, just barely resisting the urge to throw the bag out the window. "I couldn't."

Callie sat next to her. "I'm sorry," she said laying her head on Erica's shoulder. "If it helps any, I don't think this little arrangement will be for long."

"Elaine said at least a month."

"Nope. I couldn't survive that long and neither will they."

Erica chuckled at that. She as pretty sure she would find surviving for a week difficult.

"What are we going to tell them, Erica?"

Erica put her arm around Callie bringing her close. "Nothing. There's nothing to tell. We're still a family. They won't understand what's going on anyway. I don't know how we'll do that, but we'll still be a family. We're lying to everyone else, I won't lie to them. I just won't be here as much. We can tell them I'm at the hospital, which is where I'll be if I can't be here anyway. Besides they're used to us being there."

"Okay," said Callie. "That sounds like a doable plan. I can't have this go on for a month, Erica. We'll try this but if he doesn't give up his rights, we're just going to have to find another way."

"We will," said Erica hoping she was right.

She'd had hope then. Today she was feeling doubtful. Today she was feeling like an outsider looking in, fighting a strong urge to be in the center, to want to gather her family around her and feel the connections they had made. Today she felt very far away from it all.

* * *

Diego walked into his bedroom exhausted. He kicked off his shoes watching them roll awkwardly to one end of his bedroom, then removed his t-shirt tossing it to the other end of the room. Clothes needed to be segregated. He undid his pants as he walked to the bed, but his body gave way to the mattress before he had removed them and he landed on his back with a soft thud, pants still on. He let his hands form into fists before letting them open slowly, feeling his fingers stretch with the movement. He repeated this action a number of times just staring at his hands. Letting out a sigh of frustration, he adjusted his head on the pillow and finally lifted his arms, letting fingers intertwine behind his head. He had hoped to have more for her by now, but the information he had been able to gather could have been inferred from what they already had. He tried relaxing by methodically going through everything he had done in the last few days, reviewing the scant information he had been able to gather and trying to figure out if he had missed something. The info he had wasn't much. He had been hoping for more, but maybe it would be enough to earn him forgiveness and hopefully get Erica to look at him again.

After a hectic couple of days, Erica had officially kind of sort of moved in with him. He was shocked they had agreed to the plan, but had said nothing. He knew better. The night she made the move, she had simply gone into what used to be Allie's old room and not come out. She was gone by the time morning rolled around and he wondered if she had slept at all or if she had just gone to the hospital to pass the night within its familiar walls. He would have. She had not spoken to him this morning either when he had arrived from his latest surveillance assignment to shower before heading back out to try and track down David Gentry. It had been a fruitless search really and unless he came up with something soon, he wondered if she would ever speak to him again.

He had spent that morning on the phone with various contacts from D.C. and Boston trying to convince his former colleagues to run down leads and track down people that might have information for him. He was determined to find out exactly why David Gentry had decided he needed to venture out West and more importantly where he was currently hiding. He had been tempted to fly to Boston himself, but that would mean leaving Erica and Callie and the kids while David roamed free and he wasn't about to do that. But none of the usual aliases David had used in the past were getting any hits in Seattle, so Diego knew David was trying hard to hide. Much to Diego's frustration David had been successful thus far. More annoyingly he kept popping up and then disappearing like a whack-a-mole.

David had called Callie's cell phone a couple of times already and had even managed lunch with her at a time when Diego was at work. Diego had gone a little ballistic on her when he found out, but she had dismissed his objections.

_"__There's no warrant for his arrest. Y__ou can't __just take him away__ Diego and he doesn't trust you. He trusts me__. I needed to know what he wanted. I needed to look him in the eye and ask him what he was doing here__," she had stated._

She hadn't had much success. He had given her the same old _I wanna be a daddy now_ line. Ultimately Callie didn't understand that David was dangerous and a threat. A few days later reports surfaced that he had been seen at the hospital asking questions. Even though eyewitness accounts were generally unreliable, the hospital staff knew Callie. They would remember someone asking about her, especially now when her and Erica were the subject of much rumor and speculation, so Diego did not doubt that David had been snooping around. Unfortunately no one had seen him leave. As the days passed, Callie thought she might have been followed one morning as she drove to work and while Erica hadn't reported it to him, she had told Callie that she thought she spotted someone who looked like David hanging around the kids' school. All of it was starting to freak Callie out just slightly, but she was still convinced that despite the weirdness, David didn't want to hurt her. It didn't matter. Diego would continue his search whether his sister thought he was a threat or not. But it was utterly frustrating and annoying to have the resources of the FBI at your fingertips and not be able to find one irritating jackass.

As annoying as it was, it was also another clue. David was going to great lengths to hide from everyone except Callie, which meant he wasn't just hiding from Diego. Diego was convinced he was hiding from something much larger and scarier than him. That fact had led Diego to double his efforts at gathering information from his contacts back East. Unfortunately, they hadn't turned up much. They had confirmed that David had gone AWOL and that someone big was looking for him, but no information on who it was or why they wanted him was forthcoming. Diego had wanted something positive to report. He needed to redeem himself to Erica. He had made a mistake not telling them about his suspicions.

_"You moved here Diego!__ Don't tell me you moved because of a hunch. You moved because you knew he was coming.__"_

That was what Callie had yelled at him when she had confronted him about it. He looked at the clock sitting on the nightstand and frowned. He only had a few hours to sleep before he had to meet his partner for another overnight surveillance gig, but he doubted he would sleep, so he got up and reached for his phone. Maybe he had missed something or maybe something had come up since the last time he had checked for any messages or emails.

A low grade excitement coursed through him when he saw the New Email indicator flashing on his phone. He pressed a few buttons and waited for his email to load, hoping there would be something in it that would make all the efforts of the last few days worthwhile. The ding alerted him that messages had been downloaded and as he began scrolling, his disappointment that there were no messages from any of his contacts clashed with the giddiness he felt when he noted who the message was from. Addison Montgomery. He couldn't help the smile. Addison Montgomery had sent him an email.

Sleep all but forgotten he stared at the phone almost afraid to open the message. She was back in L.A., but they had been texting each other since Allie's birthday. The texts had stopped however when the whole David fiasco had come crashing down on them. Fingers hovering over his phone, he closed his eyes as he hit the right keystrokes. He opened his eyes and smiled. Then he frowned as he began scrolling. Jesus the woman had written a book. Content to let himself be distracted for a bit, he sat up, reclining his body against the headboard and began reading.

He found himself wanting to reply to every sentence and thought she expressed. The email was packed with a random collection of things, some about her day, some about Callie and what a dick David was for showing up now. He read and re-read it a number of times noting the casual tone that was friendly but not suggestive, nothing like the text messages they had been exchanging a few days ago that were filled with references to fun things designed to loosen inhibitions like drinking games they wanted to try together or dancing and music. He wondered at the shift. Did it mean something or nothing? He set his phone down, but his exhaustion had disappeared and he found himself full of energy. Too wired to contemplate sleep he got up abruptly and went to his computer. He didn't know what he wanted to say, but he wanted to hang on to the feeling that the email had given him. It wasn't fading yet, but he feared it would and so a few clicks later he was in his email hitting reply and letting out a big sigh. Now, what the hell did he want to say?

Continued in Chapter 9


	9. Chapter 9

**TITLE: Family (Chapter 9)  
AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. **

**Author's Note: There isn't much left. Sorry for the delay in posting. Semester is ending for me… so excuses, excuses, excuses. Thanks for reading.**

Chapter 9

The house was eerily quiet. It was not usually bustling, but somehow it seemed quieter without Carmen. It felt like one of those big houses that you find in England with rooms to house 20, high ceilings and floors where footsteps echoed loudly. Even though the house was well insulated, it felt drafty. He knew it was his imagination. It was rarely drafty in Florida. He sat in the library and picked up the Wall Street Journal intent on shaking off the strange mood. He read and did mental calculations. Carmen never understood how he was able to keep all that information in his head. It was a bit of a mystery to him too, how it all happened. He could list automatically every single investment he had both personal and business. He knew what his stocks were trading at yesterday and just how many points they had risen or dropped today. He did projections in his head as he read and digested all the information like it was candy. He couldn't explain how he did it. It was just something he did. He couldn't seem to help it. His daughter had marveled at this capacity until he reminded her that she seemed to do the same thing with facts about science and the body.

Callie.

He put down the paper. He couldn't do the calculations when he thought of her. His wife was with her, with Callie and that woman and her child. He didn't understand it and there was little he didn't understand. He understood how the world worked, how numbers and finances could be manipulated. He understood that rain showers and revolutions, elections and coups affected business and had to be taken into consideration in the calculations. It was difficult to quantify the impact of natural disasters into a business plan, but it could be done. But what was happening with Callie was incomprehensible to him.

Family. The church. These were things that were usually not hard to comprehend for him; they were the easy things requiring very little thought. You had a guide. The bible. It was simple really. There were men and women. They formed families, had kids, taught them the right values, made them as self-sufficient as possible and then sent them out into the world. It was what he and Carmen had done. As a parent your job was to help your kids make the right choices. It wasn't always easy. Kids did not have worldly experience. They needed guidance. This way of looking at the world made sense and had mostly worked for him. Even when his children had taken different paths than what he had envisioned for them, ultimately he found ways to fit even those variables, those tiny detours into his world view.

He was not a completely unmoving man. He could change and adapt to the modern world. It was required in the much more complicated world of business and while he tended to think his family life was more neat and orderly, he recognized that some things were unpredictable even in families. He would have preferred to have Callie married to a financially secure man, living close to her parents, sending her kids to Catholic schools and following the way of life her mother had taken before her. Callie had not wanted that and while it had surprised him, he also recognized her potential. Callie was smart. She was brilliant; smarter than her brother who was just stubborn. He had adapted to her desire to pursue a career and while he would not have picked medicine for her, he understood that giving her a choice to use her smarts meant honoring the choices she ultimately made. He had however hated that it took her away from them for so long.

Allie had been a surprise, but ultimately he could accept that choice too. Callie was a good girl and had proven it when she had decided to have Allie and so he could not fault her for that.

The guy was a deadbeat. Had she been close to home, he doubted it would have happened. He would have been able to warn her against him or taken care of him some other way. So he had helped her out with Allie and waited for her to come home. He had been so sure that after her residency she would come home. He did not expect her to stay in Seattle and end up sharing a house and god knows what else with a woman. That he could not accept.

He thought for a moment of calling Carmen, but she seemed to have no time for him lately. Worse, when he had complained she had merely told him that he needed to get on a plane and come to Seattle to spend time with his grandchildren. Grandchildren? He didn't have grandchildren. He looked around the library. Callie loved spending hours in this space as a kid. She would pick books at random and start reading, no matter what the topic. He had noticed that Allie tended to do the same, although he didn't think she could actually read most of the books on the shelves yet.

He sighed.

Would Allie ever come here again? Would he be forced to accept his daughter's new lifestyle in exchange for his granddaughter? It was unfair. He shouldn't have to negotiate for his granddaughter.

He thought of returning to the office, maybe conducting some random audits of some of his departments. He had always told Carmen that he worked long hours early in his career, when everything was uncertain and needed his constant supervision, to get to a place where he could finally relax and just have time. And he did have time. He and Carmen had been spending more time together and he enjoyed it. He sometimes missed the rush that business gave him, but her company more than made up for the loss. But now he was home with no work and Carmen was across the country with his daughter and son and he was here in a big empty house where they should be as well.

He thought of calling them and demanding they all come back. He had worked hard to buy this house for them. How dare they abandon him? He reached for the phone, fingering it lightly before letting it go. They wouldn't come anyway. Why would they? It was quiet and lonely and depressing here. He got up, pulling his robe tighter. Maybe he would fly to Seattle, explain to them that he was the man of the house and they needed to start treating him like it.

He had thought that sending Elaine would soften up Callie. Maybe this whole episode with David would open her eyes to the reality of the lifestyle she had chosen. Maybe this time he could get her to change her mind. He started making his way to his empty bedroom. He had not wanted to talk to Callie about Elaine afraid that she would deny him the opportunity to ensure that Allie stayed where she belonged. He could not imagine letting Allie be taken away because of that woman. But he was sure that right now Callie wasn't seeing it like that. Why couldn't kids just accept when parents were trying to help them despite their bad behavior?

He reached his bedroom and removed his robe. The room was cold. Had it always been this cold? He walked slowly to the bed and lay down pulling the comforter around him. He laid down, hands positioned behind his head. It felt as cold and empty here as it had downstairs. The realization came slowly, like the slow beat of a drum building up to a crescendo and a recognizable pattern. The beat, beat, beats sounding isolated and unconnected at first until the pauses between intervals decreased, the tone became familiar and finally the pattern emerged. The end of the drum roll touched off the realization. He was very much alone.

He had made this home for them and one by one they had left him. Diego had been first, his stubbornness, so recognizable to Carlos that her was not surprised at Diego's departure. They were too much alike to be in the same space for too long. Diego was not as smart as Callie and so he had needed more guidance, a sterner hand. But Diego had resented it, as Carlos would have too, he realized too late, and so eventually they stopped speaking. He didn't know when Callie had left him. Even when she left Florida, he never felt like she had left him. And yet, she had told him no, that she would not leave this woman. And now Carmen was gone playing grandma to a stranger's child. He had ruled this house not with an iron fist, but with the sternness that was required, and yet now there was no one to rule anymore. No advice to give, no wisdom to bestow. They had all turned their backs on him and he was left outside the circle, no longer its center. It had twisted and turned until the shape of it was distorted. Ultimately it didn't matter what shape it took, only that he was outside of it. Whether it was now a sphere or some oddly shaped boot, he was still on the outside looking in.

It was unacceptable. He would fix it tomorrow. Tomorrow he would speak to his wife and if she refused to come home, he would just need to go and get her.

* * *

Erica waited staring absently at the boxes of gloves, gauze and various other supplies stacked up neatly on the shelves. She had been waiting for 10 minutes. Callie had promised to meet her here, but either she had forgotten or she had been called away on an emergency. Erica considered her options. She wanted to just walk out of the supply closet. She abhorred the place. She knew what went on in it - anonymous sex sometimes, sometimes not so anonymous. Either way it was disgusting. People should leave their personal lives out of their work lives. It was simple.

Except that it wasn't. She and Callie were not good at the boundary thing at work either or rather Callie wasn't and Erica had accepted that in some ways the boundaries would be squishy with them in this place. She knew that if Callie's shift started before her, there would be a hello kiss. They didn't hold hands or call each other sweetie – at least on most days. They were not always successful, especially after stressful shifts, but despite all the rule breaking it was still important to Erica, this idea that she needed to keep her two worlds separate. She had never been comfortable with this aspect of their lives, that they worked together and so everyone she worked with kind of knew her business. She hated the way Mark addressed her if Callie was in a bad mood. She hated the suggestive comments he made and she hated that he knew things about her life that she would have preferred he not know.

It had been an adjustment for her and she wasn't always great at dealing with the fact that for her and Callie the personal and professional would always blur just slightly. They worked together. Thankfully they weren't in competition. Their fields were drastically different. Despite the blurry lines, the few times they had worked together directly had been enjoyable. Callie was a great surgeon with excellent instincts. She loved if they had an overlapping case, but even then she worried about whether she loved it because it was Callie, her lover, or because Callie was good at her job. She hated the blurriness of the lines.

Nevertheless she had learned to deal with some of it. They didn't hide their relationship, but she refused to engage in any heavy duty involvement with each other at the hospital. She didn't need people walking in on her and Callie in an intimate moment. No matter how hot and bothered Callie made her, she put her foot down on that. Sex or heavy make-out sessions were not something she wanted to engage in at the hospital.

But now things had become more complicated. Now they didn't have home and so she had compromised once again, which is why she was still sitting on a box of god knows what, still waiting for Callie. She thought about leaving, but made no move to actually depart the room. She sat and continued to wait and thought about Callie and started wishing she would just appear.

She missed her. She missed their talks in bed while snuggling. They were still talking on the phone every night, but it was different. Phones were impersonal and not snuggly and so they usually ended up just bitching about anything and everything. Venting was good, but she didn't want that to be the only thing left between them. She was probably overreacting. They had dinner together when they could, but between the kids needing attention, the clean-up and bedtime routines she barely got to speak to Callie alone. And so she here she was in a supply closet, hoping to catch a few minutes with Callie - except Callie wasn't here. She hadn't called and she hadn't come and it was making Erica want to find some interns to yell at.

* * *

It came to Carlos in the morning and as he sat comfortably in first class on his way to Seattle, thinking about his new plan, he wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. He had concentrated all of his efforts on Callie, but she wasn't the only one involved in this. He should have known. If you can't get your partners to do what you want, you go to your enemies and make a deal with them. He had to talk to this Erica Hahn person. He didn't know what kind of person she was, had not had time to initiate a full scale background check, so he was going on instincts, but he had been too excited about this new plan to put it off. Carlos Torres was a confident man and he was a man of action. Once he had a plan in motion, he went with his instincts. He trusted them. They had not failed him before. One way or another he usually got his way. This was no different. He just had to present the reality of the situation to this Hahn woman in a clear and logical way until she saw that there was really no choice but to leave his daughter alone.

Alone.

He hated that word. Callie would not be alone. She had him, she had them. She had Diego and her mother and father and Allie. She would be happy. They would all be happy. And as he repeated the words silently in his head, he tried not to think of the photos Carmen had sent him just that morning.

They were of Allie, so there was no way he would not be viewing them, but there was also the little boy and the others caught unawares in the background. There was the one of Allie in the oversized football jersey sitting next to the boy as they listened to whatever Diego was telling them. The boy was all smiles and excitement, while Allie looked on with slightly muted eyes, her hand on the boy's knee. There was the one of the two of them sitting back to back on a carpeted floor, Allie holding a book in her lap, her dark hair falling forward almost covering her face, while the boy played with small colorful blocks. There was the one of Allie grinning in delight, her body draped over a blonde woman's back, tiny arms wrapped around the woman's neck. There was the one of the two kids holding hands bodies extended outward. It was slightly blurred as if they had been caught in motion, spinning perhaps, an old childhood game, even he could recognize.

It was not a great photo. Allie's hair covered her face and the boy was in the midst of a turn, his head tilted to the side as if willing them to move faster, his features a blurry mess. But in the background was his Callie sitting on a couch, a bright happy smile on her face, her hand engulfing those of the woman sitting close to her. She looked happy and he found himself slightly surprised at that. But he couldn't consider that yet, so he focused on the woman sitting next to Callie. She was at ease he could tell, but there were small signs that this was not an entirely happy moment for her. She wore a small crease on her brow and her face seemed tense, not open like Callie's almost naked expression of elation. He blinked. He knew the look on the blonde woman's face or thought he did. It was the face of someone who felt the burdens of the world, and who wanted to keep those burdens from invading this space. It was the face of someone who wanted to be free and happy and yet could not help but remain guarded. For a moment he felt a connection to her. He thought he might understand what that look meant. It was similar to the one he wore when he felt the burdens of protecting those you loved from the pressures beyond the walls you built around them.

It should have made his heart soar to have someone looking out for Callie and Allie like he would, to have someone else who knew of the dangers and was willing to protect them. But this was not the right person to do that. Callie had just gotten confused. He dismissed the photo from his head and thought about his new plan.

Callie was stubborn and he should have realized that earlier. He would not change her mind, but there was still a chance. There was still time to confront this stranger who had set herself up in his place or taken up a space that should be occupied by someone else. She was the key. He had to hang on to that fact, no matter how much his heart was questioning his actions. The heart was an unreliable organ when it came to things like this and so he pushed aside what it made him feel when he thought of the pictures of Allie and that little boy or Callie with a big open happy smile. He had to think with his head and not his heart.

* * *

It was late, but if Erica couldn't see Callie she was intent on getting home in time to see the kids to bed and so she was rushing through her last consult. Callie had been busy all day and this evening she was with Elaine and Danielle. Erica had not been asked to come. Elaine had called an "emergency" meeting and all Erica had received was a quick kiss in her office as Callie breezed through to apologize for missing their appointment earlier and to tell her she would not be home for dinner because of the emergency meeting. There had been no explanation as to the emergency, although she was trying to give Callie some credit. Maybe Callie didn't know. Maybe Elaine had asked that Erica not be invited. You can't pretend you no longer mean anything to each other if you attend appointments together she could imagine Elaine explaining.

She had one more patient to visit, a man in his fifties who had been brought to the ER by his frantic wife and daughter complaining of pain and numbness. His condition had worsened in the ER and by the time she'd gotten to him, he had almost died on her table. The family had been in the waiting room the whole time he was in surgery, red-eyed and teary. According to Gray a young man had showed up at about midday with a four year old in tow to join the Mom and daughter. He was the brother and the kid belonged to the daughter. They seemed like a tight knit family or at least they were in times of crisis. She had gone in to give them an update earlier on Gray's suggestion and found them almost clinging to each other. The brother holding his mother tight with a shell shocked look on his face, while the sister sat very close cradling the four-old. At one time she had thought her own family was as tight knit as this one. Now she was doubtful of what it was they had.

The last person she had expected to run into when she walked out of the consultation with the family was Carlos Torres looking slightly haggard, but with a determined look in his eyes. She had almost not registered his presence even though he was pacing the area near the nurse's station. To her he might have been just another man waiting to hear the outcome of some procedure, had he not stepped directly into her path forcing a confrontation.

Not registering immediately who he was she had muttered an exasperated "Excuse me," as she tried to step around him. Within seconds she recognized him. He did not respond at first, just held his ground as she stepped back. She had stared at him for a second, waiting for all the pieces to come together before speaking, thinking that she should be careful because this was Callie's father. He continued to stare back at her and she realized that this was no chance encounter. He had come here specifically for her. That fact kick-started something in her and suddenly she didn't care that he was Callie's father. He was just one more person who had decided to come between her and her family and she snapped.

* * *

Continued in Chapter 10


	10. Chapter 10

**TITLE: Family (Chapter 10)  
AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. **

**Author's Note: I've borrowed somewhat (and manipulated as appropriate) from the episode where Callie's father first finds out she's gay. Standard disclaimer that I am not a doctor or a lawyer, so take all of the lingo with a grain of salt. I'm predicting 13 chapters should do it, so not much more to go. All mistakes are mine.**

**Happy voting to all those in the UK.**

Chapter 10

Complex thoughts slow you down. They make you consider actions and consequences and stifle instincts. Callie's father was standing in Erica's way, standing in the way of everything and she felt the need to just get him out of her way. It was a simple thought. _Get him out of my way._ She stepped into his personal space, grabbed his tailored suit in both of her hands and pushed until he was up against the wall in the hallway. He was shocked by her actions. She could see it in his face, but by the time he got his hands up in protest, he was already on the wall. He tried pushing her away, but she had too strong of a grip. She used her height and weight to her advantage, so that he was finding it difficult to move.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked nervously.

"I did say excuse me, but I think you might not have heard me, so I'm emphasizing my point. You are in my way."

He studied her. Her hands were still attached to his suit and she wondered briefly if he was worried about the suit. She gripped harder just in case he was and waited for his reaction.

He was staring at her still in shock, but he was recovering. She saw a cold hard mask descend slowly. He had not expected such a strong reaction, but he was recalculating, even as she held him in place.

"I just want to talk," he said in a normal voice.

She shoved him roughly before letting go much like she had seen Diego do to David not too long ago.

"With all due respect Mr. Torres, I am not your daughter or your son, so you don't get to push me around or stand in my way. You are going to listen for a change. I am sick of your interference, your outdated attitudes and I am especially sick of how you've treated your daughter. So whatever you've come here to say, just keep in mind that I am not afraid of you. You do not intimidate me and you will not convince me to go away."

Finally she let herself breathe, loosened her grip and stepped away from him, increasing the distance between them.

"Now, what is you wanted to say to me?" she finished as she put her hands in the pockets of her lab coat.

He didn't know what to say. He hadn't expected to be tossed into a wall, let alone by a woman. She was strong, stronger than he would have guessed. He had expected a certain amount of anger from her, but this he had been unprepared for. He tried to project some semblance of resolve and addressed her.

"Perhaps we can go somewhere...private?" he asked looking around.

They had attracted stares. He had especially noted the particularly big man standing by the nurse's station, who had been watching them almost from the start of their little confrontation. He was tall, with short cropped hair and a beard stretched out by the stupid grin on his face that didn't seem appropriate given the situation. Carlos turned his attention to the Hahn woman. She hadn't answer him yet and in fact had barely glanced his way once she had let him go, but she started to move and so he followed.

"You alright, Erica?" asked the man with the silly grin.

"Not your concern Sloan and if you know what's best for you, you won't come near me today."

"No problem, but if you need a hand..."

"Shut up, Sloan," she said as she made her way to a set of elevators.

Carlos looked back at the tall bearded man as they waited for the elevators. He was still grinning, but he had stopped talking.

A short elevator ride later they were walking down a long corridor, the sound of his footsteps echoing unnaturally in his ear. He wondered at his haste. Perhaps it had been a mistake to act impulsively and seek her out now. He should have done more research, learned more about the woman before confronting her. He had thought it would be easy to control the conversation. He was in the position of authority here, having the power to give or withhold his approval. Besides he'd had dealings with the staff at this hospital before. They were soft, pliable, easily molded and intimidated. But apparently the woman he was dealing with now was no George O'Malley. This was a woman who took control of every situation and if she didn't have control she was probably very unhappy. Like him. He had miscalculated again.

They approached a door, which she unlocked quickly and then held open, silently ordering him to enter. He did desperately trying to figure out how to get the situation back under his control. She walked in behind him, closed the door forcefully and motioned for him to sit at the flimsy chair across from her desk.

"I prefer to stand," he said well aware of how the flimsy chair would make it appear as if he was in a less powerful position.

"Suit yourself," she said as she made her way to her desk chair never hesitating to take a seat.

He turned to face her and was surprised again that even in this position he did not have the upper hand. He was like the subordinate that was not allowed to sit while his superior sat at her leisure. She was leaning back in her chair letting it sway slightly, her elbows on the arms, her fingers interlaced.

"Say what you need to say, Mr. Torres. I'm a busy woman and I have to get home to see my kids."

He opened his mouth, but her words slammed into him and he found himself once again at a loss. It took him a minute to recover.

"Allie is not your child," he said finally because it was what had popped into his head.

"You don't make that decision, Mr. Torres. She calls me Mom and Lucas calls me Mom and although I didn't give birth to either of them, they are my children."

"No."

"Is that all you have? Because if that's all you got, this is a waste of my time."

"Leave her alone," he blurted out.

"You don't make that decision either," she said calmly.

"She doesn't know what she's doing."

"Did you raise a stupid daughter, Mr. Torres? Do you have so little respect for her that you don't trust her to make the right choices for herself? I don't think so. I think you're proud of her and the decisions she's made. This isn't about her. It's about you. Callie makes pretty good decisions and you know you can trust her."

"Not in this," he protested.

"Why the hell not? She's smart and caring and compassionate and she has a right to live her own life. She certainly doesn't need sanctimonious judgments from you."

"It's wrong!" he shouted.

"According to who? You? And don't you dare say God because you don't know what God would think is right and neither do any of those cowards that like to hide their bigotry behind God."

He was losing more ground with her. Obviously she wasn't seeing reason in any of this. It had been a mistake to come here at all. The woman was clearly delusional. She actually thought he had a choice in this, that he could somehow decide that all of this was okay.

"Your wife is a lovely woman," she said softly.

He blinked. He heard the comment, but it was so off topic that it took him aback just slightly. "Yes, she is."

"Is she wrong too? Is she not capable of making a decision about supporting her daughter's choices?"

He fell silent. Carmen was different. She wasn't his child. Besides he could not pretend that he had not been a little relieved when she decided to fly to Seattle. He hadn't wanted Callie to be alone in all of this. "She's a mother," he said by way of explanation.

"Yes, she is and you're a father. Is there really that much difference between the two of you in the love you show your children?"

"Of course not!" he snapped.

"She's at our house right now, putting a brother and sister to bed, not judging our family, not judging Callie's choices but trying to understand them. You're here trying to chase me away. So which one of you is right?"

"I am," he said quickly, but he wasn't really sure anymore. He didn't understand the choices Callie was making, but neither had his wife. He was handling it like he thought he should and Carmen had chosen another way. He hadn't faulted her for it even if he had been unhappy at being abandoned. He even understood her desire to be with Callie. He had wanted that too and there were parts of him that were glad she had gone and that Diego was also in Seattle being a good brother.

"I hope you're sure about that Mr. Torres because despite the shambles David has made of our lives, I'm not going anywhere. He's not chasing me away and neither are you. I love your daughter and I'm pretty dedicated to her, which means I'll try my best to protect her from idiots who would hurt her, even when one of those idiots is her father."

"I'm not trying to hurt her. I'm trying to help."

"Don't kid yourself. You seem like a pretty honest man who doesn't like to dick around with self-delusion. You know you're not helping. You're uncomfortable and you don't understand her choices and so you want her to conform to your idea so you won't have to change how you think. It doesn't work like that. Ever. You should know that. You're a parent."

He said nothing. She continued.

"My son loves football. I wish he didn't. It's a dangerous sport that could end up crippling him, but he loves it, so I'll do my best to protect him. I'll help him make good choices about headgear and playing safely and support him, because he loves it."

"You don't let your child just jump off a bridge because he wants too."

"No, but Callie is not jumping off a bridge. You know that. You know it's not the same." She paused. "She's still your daughter, Mr. Torres. She's the daughter you're proud of. She's still the same. You still get to worry about her, but you don't get to run her life."

He stared at her for a few seconds, trying to find a response she would accept, but he knew the conversation was over. He no longer wanted to be in this woman's presence. She made him uncomfortable.

"You'll lose her. I'm not threatening you and I'm not saying you'll lose her to me, but you will lose her if you keep trying to make her choices yours. Just like Diego."

Diego.

Another pain he had been refusing to deal with. He nodded at her, as he had no further words, and then simply turned and made his way to the door. He needed to get away from all this talk of choices and lost children. He needed to find his wife.

Callie was in a bad mood. She had been busy all day, had missed her and Erica's supply closet appointment when Webber insisted she see a new referral. It was a patient with all kinds of complications that were the result of some quack's experimentation with an Achilles tendon surgery that had gone horribly wrong. Actually the surgery had gone fine, but the doctor was testing a new contraption on his patient that he told her would get her back on her feet faster than traditional rehab. The contraption had caused an infection to develop at the incision which spread quickly to the woman's leg and was now invading the knee she'd had replaced a year earlier. The infection needed to be controlled, but it had come to her because there was some debate as to whether a second knee replacement was in order. It was. It wasn't a complicated case, but it needed close monitoring. An aggressive antibiotic treatment had already been started by her prior surgeon, but the infection was still spreading and if they didn't get it under control, the woman was in danger of losing her leg. Webber had accepted the patient when the prior surgeon asked for help and Webber didn't like failures. He liked being the hero and liked when the hospital could swoop in and make things right.

Callie was a little more realistic. It might already be too late to save the leg, but she would try. She had spent the afternoon researching the case history and ordering everything from a wound care vacuum to an interesting combination of antibiotics to stop the infection. When the somewhat frantic call from Elaine came in, she had just added that to the rest of the reasons this day sucked and went about making arrangements so she could meet with Elaine and Danielle. It meant she probably wouldn't see Erica again tonight. She would be lucky to make it home in time to see the kids to bed. They liked their grandmother, but they knew things were not exactly right in the house and it had started to worry her. Lucas had been unusually shy around her mother at first, but once he tasted her pumpkin pie, all of his doubts seemed to vanish. She sighed remembering how she had teased him about how easily he was won over. But even though he had warmed up to her mother, both kids seemed more subdued to her lately. The chaos that usually reigned in the house seemed to have quelled. The house was especially quiet if Erica didn't make it to dinner. Sighing in frustration, she counted the days in her head. Only two more weeks of this madness and then she would insist on Erica moving back. She couldn't take much more. Putting those thoughts aside, she concentrated on what could possibly prompt Elaine to call an "emergency" meeting.

"We can't find him."

"What? You can't find him? What does that mean?" asked Callie. She looked at Danielle who was sitting quietly, apparently content to let Elaine do all the talking.

"His last known address is a rehab clinic. We have addresses from the various substance abuse specialists he's seen, but none of them know where he is. We haven't heard from a lawyer, which is frankly a little surprising given what I was told about this case," continued Elaine clearly frustrated. "Apparently the only times he's been seen recently are when he showed up at your house to establish contact and when you went to lunch. You should have told us you were doing that. We could have served him then."

"Can't you trace him from the phone numbers he's called me from?"

"The phones that have been reported stolen? The ones that have now been deactivated? No, Ms. Torres that's a dead end. Apparently he has only made his presence known to you. This case can't proceed without him. I can't threaten him if I can't find him and frankly...."

"Callie has he given you a way to reach him, a place he's staying? Anything?'" asked Danielle with an exasperated look at Elaine who was working herself into a frenzy. Her face was flustered, her neat red hair starting to stick out in odd places.

"He usually calls me. I've never really thought about asking him where he's staying. I don't want to see him you know."

"We know that, but nothing can happen until we locate him," said Danielle calmly.

"You mean to tell me that Erica and I have been living apart, barely seeing each other for two weeks and nothing's happened?" Her voice was getting tighter, the words coming out in clipped crisp tones.

"We've written all the motions," said Elaine getting a little defensive and looking through the stacks of paperwork in front of her.

"We've written motions to compel a paternity test; we've written petitions asking the court to grant you full custody of Allison. We drew up a petition stating that he desires to voluntarily relinquish his parental rights. We've even written a proposed order to terminate his parental rights for the judge to sign. We have almost every avenue covered, but I can't file most of these things without paternity being established and I certainly can't threaten him with anything if I can't find him. It's almost like he doesn't want to be found and if he doesn't want to be found, we have no case."

Danielle stood up and started pacing. "Callie, what exactly does he say he want? Does he understand what you want out of all of this?"

"Look, we had a hotdog in the park. It wasn't like I spent the day with him. He told me about how he's changed and all the things he's been doing to improve himself and how he wanted to be a father to Allie. I didn't say much. I thought you all would be handling that aspect of it."

"Well, we would if we could find him," interrupted Elaine. Danielle shot her a look.

"So, he has no idea you've started legal proceedings - no matter how scant - against him?"

"I don't know. He didn't mention it and I didn't either."

"Have you talked since the lunch?" asked Danielle.

"He's called one other time, said he was at the Waterfront looking at all of the families and wishing he would have stuck around or something like that."

"What did you say?"

Callie rolled her eyes. "What do you think I said? I laughed and told him he wasn't kidding anyone." She paused. "He hung up shortly after. He knows I'm not buying his little act."

"We're going to file the paternity suit, but you're going to have to get him to come to us or serve him with the paternity suit yourself, Ms. Torres. We can hire someone to do it, but frankly I think you'd have better luck."

"Wait a minute, don't go meeting him by yourself Callie. Just arrange it and we'll come with you," said Danielle looking concerned.

Callie was trying to digest everything. She hated that everything was vastly more involved and complicated than it needed to be, all because of one person who was no longer a part of her life. There were so many times she had thanked her stars that David seemed content to disappear from her life, but now she needed him to not be such an elusive loser and show up. She had heard the warning in Danielle's voice but knew she couldn't heed it. David was being very calculating and as much as she hated to admit it, Diego was right. He was hiding from everyone except the person he was banking on getting something from. And why not? She or rather her father had paid every other time he had shown up just to make him go away. That's all David wanted now. He wanted to be paid to go away, but for once she didn't want him to go away, at least not before she got what she needed from him too.

David would run the moment he saw anyone with Callie. As much as she appreciated Elaine and Danielle's legal strategizing, this wasn't getting resolved through the courts. It would have to happen differently. She would need to convince him to sign all the right papers. In order to get what she wanted, she would need to give him what he wanted too. She wondered what the price would be. No doubt once he knew what she was asking, the amount he'd had in mind would triple.

"Callie? You understand that, right? Do not go meeting him by yourself."

Callie looked up. "Sure, yeah Danielle, I understand." She turned to Elaine.

"You said you were going to offer him money in exchange for the termination of his rights. How much did my father authorize?"

"Well I...."

"I'm the client remember?" said Callie.

Elaine looked at her papers. "He authorized 5 million dollars. I have the paperwork that will allow me to transfer up to that amount into an account for Mr. Gentry."

Callie was surprised and a little perplexed. Her father had threatened to cut her off entirely and yet.... She stopped not wanting to think about money and what it did or didn't mean.

"Ms. Torres, please do heed Danielle's advice. We know what we're doing and who we're dealing with. Please let us handle this. I don't mean to insult you, but these are delicate matters that must be handled with extreme care and caution if we wish to achieve a desirable result. I know you have a personal connection with Mr. Gentry and you want to believe his intentions are..."

"It's not personal," said Callie. "I have no illusions about him. I know what this is about and I know what he's about. I know him and that makes me the best person to deal with him, no matter how...complex," she said with a sneer at Elaine. "I understand more than you think I do and probably more than you do." She stood. "I'll let you know if he contacts me." She picked up her purse and started walking out.

"Callie!" Danielle called after her, but Callie no longer wanted to continue the conversation and so she ignored her and kept walking.

Danielle caught up with her at the elevators. "Wait a minute will you?"

Callie had no choice but to stop at the elevators and so because Danielle was still a friend she turned to her. Unfortunately her bad mood had not really waned. It had only increased much like Erica's stress headaches when gone untreated.

"What?" she snapped at Danielle.

"How are you and Erica?" asked Danielle.

"Well we don't see each other enough. I didn't get to see her today. I'm seeing no benefit from this little plan. In fact I'm beginning to think this plan was crap." She stopped trying to hold back the tears of frustration that were threatening. "I wish she was here, with me. I'm starting to feel very alone and I'm the one still at home, so I can't imagine how she must be dealing with all of this. So everything is pretty much fucked up."

Danielle stepped forward and put her arms around her. "I know this seems like a mess, but we will make progress. We are going to make this happen. One way or another he will be forced to relinquish his claim to Allie and then you can put this ugly little mess behind you. I promise you."

Callie's eyes were watering. "Thank you. I know that. One way or another, this will be finished. Thanks for all your help Danielle," she finished. The elevator doors opened slowly. She gave Danielle's shoulder a light squeeze before stepping into it. One way or another, this would get resolved.

Danielle watched her get on the elevator feeling uneasy. She knew none of this was sitting well with Callie despite the reassurances she was giving Danielle. She turned as the elevator doors closed to see Elaine watching them from the doorway.

"She really needs to leave emotions out of this. It would be less difficult for her if she thought about this logically."

Danielle shook her head as she walked towards her.

"You have it all wrong. The emotions are what make it all worthwhile." She stopped in front of Elaine. "Besides, no matter how much you want to set them to the side or bury them somewhere, feelings, emotions, _empathy_," she stressed the last word, "have a way of finding themselves into all of this. Even you feel it. Don't be frightened by strong emotions, Elaine. It's the reason you're getting so exasperated by this case. It's not just that you want to win. You want to put this family back together. Don't deny it. You care about this."

"I care about doing my job," said Elaine defiantly.

"If it was just a job, you wouldn't care so much," said Danielle as she moved forward forcing Elaine to step away from the doorway as she passed.

Callie was restless. The meeting had made her uneasy and the thought of what was waiting for her at home was causing a slight panic. She had called her mother wanting to make sure the kids were okay, hoping to just have a quick conversation before calling Erica. It had been quick, but her mother's news that her father was waiting for her at the house was just one more unpleasant thing she didn't want to deal with right now. Right now she wanted to find Erica.

But Erica was not answering her phone. She wasn't at the house and according to Diego, Erica wasn't across the street either. That only left the hospital and so Callie had steered her car in that direction hoping to find her. If she was there, she was hiding as Callie had not been able to locate her and had instead been pulled into another unplanned consult. She had tried Erica's phone several times, although she had stopped leaving messages after the fifth one. She checked on the patient with the infection who had been admitted to her care earlier and then at a loss as to what else to do, she headed home.

She tried Erica half a dozen times on her way home. She was tempted to throw her phone out the window after her last attempt. She didn't want to face her father alone, but apparently in this moment she was very much alone.

Continued in Chapter 11


	11. Chapter 11

TITLE: Family (Chapter 11)  
AUTHOR: rcruz

**RATING: R**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**Author's Note: Apologies for the long lag time between chapters. Just got through reading what seemed like hundreds of papers on Descartes; next up - American History papers. It's been rainy, windy and cold in Chicago which reminds me of Seattle weather. As always, thanks for reading. All mistakes are mine and unintentional.**

**PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THE RATING – nothing too outlandish here, but it is racier than the other chapters. This is not my strong suit and one of the areas that could use some improvement, so please be kind.**

**Chapter 11**

In the end she couldn't do it. Not without talking to Erica, so she had pulled into her old driveway instead of her normal spot across the street and hoped her mother wouldn't notice her car. It was way past the kids bedtime so there was only her Dad to deal with and she simply wasn't ready. She tried Erica's phone again, but there was still no answer. She looked around. The neighborhood was darkening rapidly and as the night continued to descend on it, the darkness seemed to be swallowing everything whole. She sat in the car watching it advance until she was engulfed in complete darkness. Even the streetlights had failed to come on, probably due to some weird glitch in their timing. She sat and watched as house lights flickered on and then the few street lights that illuminated their street came on suddenly. She blinked as the neighborhood went from complete darkness to partial illumination, the street lights competing with the thin crescent moon just barely visible to her through two trees. She continued to sit unwilling to face her father, but with no desire to enter the empty house in front of her. Exhaustion caught up with her though and as the night wound down and houses made the switch from light to dark again, her eyes closed and she fell into an uneasy sleep.

A light tapping woke her and for a moment she was disoriented by the darkness, her surroundings, and especially the dark shape she couldn't make out outside. The shape stepped back and finally she could see faint traces of a face she recognized. She rolled down her window.

"What are you doing out here Callie?" asked Diego.

"Waiting for Erica," she said.

He looked towards the house across the street and then back at her. "She's not here. I was hoping she had gotten tired of this whole thing and was staying with you tonight."

"She's not answering her phone," said Callie and as she said the words a sinking feeling dropped into her stomach. What if something was wrong?

"You sure she's not across the street?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Dad's over there."

"Fuck!" he exclaimed. "Are you kidding? Dude, why didn't Mom tell me?"

She shrugged. "She told me when I called to check on the kids."

"Erica's gone and Dad's here," he said thinking out loud. He turned his attention back to her. "You going over there?"

"Can't deal with that now. I haven't seen Erica all day practically and I need to talk to her before I deal with him." She hesitated before speaking the next words. "I don't want to go in there alone."

He nodded. "Alright, why don't you go inside and lay down. I'll um... try to find her."

"Diego, you don't have to. I know things between the two of you haven't been great."

"That's my fault. I fucked up," he said.

"Yeah, you did, but still..."

He shook his head and looked down. "No, no excuses. I've been kind of hoping she would just be pissed for a little while and then get over it and that's not right either. I'll find her," he said opening the door to her car and reaching for her hand. She let him pull her out of her seat and stood staring at the house she had spent 5 years in. She hadn't thought she'd ever be spending another night here once she moved out. She felt a nudge at her back.

"Go, try to sleep. I'll bring her back."

"Do you even know where to look?" she asked him concerned.

"Well I figured I would start at the hospital and work out from there. You have any suggestions?"

"I already checked the hospital," she said looking at him with hopeful eyes.

"No harm in checking again. Maybe she left and came back."

She looked back at the house across the street. "Why do you think she's not answering my calls?" she asked in a tiny voice. "Do you think she's had enough already?"

"I think her phone is dead," he said giving her a more forceful push towards his own door. "Go, even if I don't find her, I'm sure she'll be making her way here soon, so go inside."

She hoped he was right. She took a deep breath and turned the knob silently praying that Erica would show up soon, guided here either by divine intervention or Diego's persistence, she didn't care which.

It hadn't been that hard. It was basic. You start at the point of departure, the point where the person was last seen and you work out. Diego had taken one look around the hospital and headed straight for the bar. He had passed it a dozen times and knew from Callie that it was a favorite hangout of hospital staff, so it was a logical starting point. She was sitting at a stool looking very pensive. A glass of wine was in front of her, but her attention was not on it. She was staring straight ahead. A man was seated next to her engaging in a conversation that seemed one-sided. Diego remembered him from Allie's party. He had been with a petite, cute looking woman Callie had introduced as an intern of some type. He walked over and sat on her other side.

She didn't acknowledge him, but that was okay. He pretty much figured he would have to do most of the talking. He ordered a beer and patiently waited for it to be placed in front of him. He opened it quickly and took tentative sips for a few minutes. Finally, he felt ready. He turned in his stool to face her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about David," he said simply. "I fucked up. It was a mistake. It won't...happen again."

"Yes, it was and yes you did fuck up," she answered, not looking at him. The man seated next to her left without uttering another word.

"You let us get run over by this Diego. We weren't ready to have him show up. We weren't prepared. You could have helped us prepare. Instead you let him cut us off at the knees before we had a chance to even start the race."

"There is no excuse for my behavior," he said.

"No, there isn't," she agreed. "None whatsoever."

They were both silent for a few minutes. Diego was still taking sips of beer. Erica left her glass untouched. Finally he spoke.

"I want to make it right."

She made to get up. He didn't know how long she'd been here or how much she'd had to drink, but everything about her was steady; her hands, her eyes, and the way her feet moved spoke of someone very sober. She pulled some bills out of her purse and started counting them.

"You father is here. Do yourself a favor and talk to him," she said. "And Diego," she added as he took a big gulp of beer. "Don't ever hide something having to do with my family from me. Next time I won't be giving you an opportunity to make it right."

He nodded and then remembered who was sleeping in her bed.

"Erica!" he called out to her.

She turned. "Is your phone on?"

"It died this afternoon. Why?"

"Callie's been trying to reach you all night."

"She could have had me paged," she said reaching for the pager clipped to her bag unconsciously. She fingered it before asking her next question. "Is she okay?"

"Dad's here, so no. I think she's avoiding him. She seemed to really want to talk to you before she saw him."

She stared at him seemingly waiting to hear more. He smiled. It was subtle the change in her expression, but it was there. Her eyes had relaxed somewhat at the news that Callie needed her, her face colored slightly.

"She's probably conked out on your bed."

She took a step closer. "She's at the house?"

He nodded.

"Diego you're an idiot," she said, but she was smiling now.

"What?" he asked although he didn't really care why she was calling him an idiot. It sounded playful and he had not seen her playful in a very long time.

"Next time start with that. If my wife is waiting for me in bed, start with that." She threw a few bills on the bar that would more than cover his beer and quickly departed.

It was ridiculously heartwarming to see Callie's car in the driveway of the house she'd been staying at for two weeks. She pulled up next to it and thought about another time, not so long ago really, when she had come home and felt relief to see it parked across the street. That had been after the whole Gretchen drama and back then she had thought the feeling was about Callie being in her house. Now she realized it wasn't about the place at all. It didn't matter that she was pulling up to a different house now. The feeling was the same in front of this house, which was technically not her home. She got out and took a deep breath, smelling the distinctive smell of musty rain lingering in the air.

It was late which meant Callie was probably asleep. She gathered her things as she looked at the dark house. Yes, most likely Callie was asleep. She should be disappointed at that, but somehow that didn't matter either. The fact that Callie was there, warming up her tiny little bed, that Erica had the warmth of her body to look forward to, that was enough. Tomorrow morning they would wake together and perhaps steal a few moments just talking and holding each other before dealing with everything. She wondered if Diego had been right or if Callie had indeed spoken to her Dad. She hoped that wasn't the reason Callie was here - some huge blow-out with her Dad.

Carlos Torres was the reason she had been in Joe's with a glass of wine she had barely touched. He hadn't rattled her exactly, but she resented his presence, knew he would seek out Callie, wondered at the outcome of that and then decided part of her just didn't want to know. Didn't they have enough to deal with? Wasn't David's irksome intrusion into their lives enough? They didn't need a judgmental parent to stir the soup even more. The soup was already a virtual mush these days. She had sat there wondering if she had made a mistake speaking to Callie's father like she had. Starting her relationship with him by antagonizing him might not have been the smartest thing she had done lately. She wondered at Callie's reaction and then stewed in her own misery a little, because that's what you did in bars.

Mark had come over to cheer her up, but she had barely paid attention to his ramblings. The thoughts kept coming and she kept examining them as he sat beside her, his mouth moving and flapping somewhat comically. She hadn't heard a word. It was as if he was on mute. She had watched him talk all the while her own musings kept up a constant stream of traffic, memories, thoughts, regrets whizzing past, sometimes crashing into each other until she had to consciously turn away from Mark and slow them down.

She had been feeling so out of control and she hated it. It was part of the reason she had addressed Callie's father the way she had. But even when she asserted control, it had not felt good. And that, she had concluded, only moments before Diego had arrived, was the problem. She was in a lose-lose situation. The circumstances were out of her control and that was bad, but there was nothing she could do about it because asserting control was bad too. Any attempt to do so would end badly as she had discovered this afternoon.

Putting the thoughts aside, she concentrated on the door and navigating the dark house, where Callie was hopefully happily snuggled into her bed.

The first thing she noticed upon entering her room was Callie's scent. It was the most wonderful thing she had ever smelled and had her heart racing in anticipation. Callie was here. The second thing she noted was how dark this room could get. She could barely make-out shapes, but that didn't matter. She knew Callie was here. Erica slipped out of her clothes quietly, deciding to forgo any pajamas. She made her way to the bed and felt for Callie's body, wanting to get a sense of exactly where she was. She felt Callie stir underneath her palm almost immediately.

"Hey," said Callie in a sleepy voice raising her head and upper body.

Erica sat on the edge of the bed, hand settling on Callie's thigh. She could now make out the shape of the upright body whose hands were reaching for her. They landed on her cheeks, cupping them firmly and pulling Erica close. Erica was not about to resist although she was slightly taken back. She felt Callie's lips on hers grazing and sucking gently and just enjoyed the feeling it gave her. It was Callie loving her, wanting her and suddenly she couldn't remember what she had been so worried about.

Callie opened her mouth in invitation and Erica obliged mirroring her actions and letting Callie's tongue dance a slow sensual dance with hers until breathing became accelerated and bodies started inching closer. Erica's hands had made their way to Callie's waist and then traveled upwards, feeling the outline of Callie's breast through the shirt she had on. She let her touch stay light although all the signals from her body were on green. They were telling her to go, move faster, closer, press harder, to bring the lovely body in front of her close enough to feel. She pushed a little letting her touch get more demanding, pushing her own upper body forward to meet Callie's. She felt the impact immediately in Callie's moan. Callie's body surged forward thrusting the breast Erica had been caressing further into her grasp. Erica could not help her reaction. Both hands found Callie's breasts.

Callie pulled her mouth away, breathing hard, but keeping her body right where it was.

"I've missed you," she said quickly. "And that feels very good," she finished.

Erica's mouth found Callie's neck and she reveled in the taste she found there. Placing wet lips on a beating pulse she noted how both familiar and new this felt. Callie was pulling her close, but Erica had things she needed to do. Her hands moved away from the breasts she had been fondling searching for the bottom of the t-shirt Callie was wearing.

"What are...?" she heard Callie mutter the moment her hands moved down the shirt.

Erica knew the moment Callie figured it out as she heard a very audible and very sexy "Ohh" when Erica's hands grabbed a hold of the bottom of the shirt and pulled. Shirt discarded, Erica felt an uncontrollable need to be close, to be physically connected to Callie. She returned to Callie's mouth and leaned over bringing her very naked self closer until their bodies touched. Erica thought her head might explode at the sensation. Their lovemaking had always been hot, but this was beyond anything Erica remembered or perhaps the last two weeks had just dulled her memories.

Ultimately it didn't matter. The moment Callie's legs opened under her, everything else faded into some background, some closet, some safe, some out of the way place. The moment she lowered herself onto Callie, felt Callie's wetness and heat on her thigh, felt her own center connect with Callie, she knew the world would not intrude tonight. Tonight was just her and Callie. They would worry about everything else in the morning.

The next morning was delicious. Waking up with her head on Erica's naked breast was just about the best way to wake up. Callie had not forgotten that. She had missed it. She missed her...them...this. She let her hands trace patterns on Erica's stomach under the covers hoping her sleepy-headed lover would wake. She knew she could count on her mother to stay with the kids for as long as necessary and right now it was necessary. She and Erica needed this time. Last night had been wonderful. They had talked and kissed and done a host of other things that had her body singing. She didn't want it to end. She didn't want to go back to them living separately for some idiotic plan that didn't seem to be working.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice the movement until a hand had intertwined with hers, effectively stopping the doodles she was drawing on Erica's stomach.

"It's a good thing I'm not that ticklish," said Erica in a husky voice, that somehow had Callie's body feeling a familiar tingling and throbbing very specific places. She smiled and squeezed the hand in hers.

"You sound so damn sexy in the morning," she said going in for a kiss.

It was supposed to be a good morning kiss. It was gentle and sweet and loving and Erica tasted so damn good that Callie couldn't get enough. Her tongue wanted to mingle in the unique taste that was Erica and so it began a thorough examination of Erica's mouth. Erica returned the kiss eagerly meeting Callie's tongue with her own and trying to slow the kiss to a more sensual pace. But they were both naked and Callie's body had gone into overdrive. She straddled Erica's leg, as she continued the kiss, beginning a grinding motion that Erica could not resist. She placed hands on Callie's hips and let Callie take the lead, matching the intense kissing with an intensity of her own.

Finally Callie pulled her mouth away.

"I want you," she said through ragged breaths. "I want you to touch me and kiss me. I want all of it, all the time."

Callie was remembering last night and Erica touching her with those lovely fingers until she was panting so hard she thought she would hyperventilate. She was remembering those same fingers entering her and riding them to her release. She was remembering lips and a velvety tongue bringing her to the point of oblivion and she wanted all of it again. But those thoughts were making concentrating tough and so she found that she could do nothing but continue the grinding and whispering "I want you," over and over until Erica flipped her over entirely.

She made disappointed grunting noises at the abrupt interruption of the grinding that had had her at a breaking point, until she felt fingers inside and a palm cupping her center. She started moving again finding her place easily and closing her eyes at the sensations.

"I love you Callie," she heard and opened her eyes.

Erica's eyes had gone impossibly dark. She was straddling Callie's leg and moving with her.

"I love you too, sweetheart," answered Callie.

And in that moment Callie knew, that this whole thing had to end. They would not finish out the two weeks living apart. It simply could not be done. She closed her eyes and let the physical sensations wash over her. She reached up for a kiss bringing Erica more firmly on top of her. Moving together it wasn't long before they reached the end of their little hedonistic journey, continuing their whispered I love you's until they both tumbled over that cliff.

The idea that this charade had to end would become even clearer later in the morning as they prepared to go across the street and face her father. All the euphoria of the night and morning had faded. Callie noticed the change in Erica, her face became harder, her brows furrowed more often the closer they got to departure. She saw tense shoulders and the frowns that probably signaled a headache. She had wanted to talk to Erica about strategy, what would they say? What were they going to do? But the tenser Erica got, the more reluctant Callie became to raising the questions. By the time they departed, they had almost stopped talking entirely. They had no plan.

And so with heavy hearts they stepped outside and headed across the street. The anticipation would be misplaced. Callie's father was not there. Carmen was not saying much, but they got a sense of what had happened from Diego who had spent the night on the couch. He had happily parked his car at the "main house" as he called it when he saw Erica and Callie's cars in his driveway, but his parents had been surprised at his arrival. He had not expected them to be up. He had rushed through a somewhat sheepish and embarrassed explanation about why he was there speaking quickly about not wanting to intrude. Mom and Dad had looked confused for a second before walking to the window where indeed it was confirmed that both Erica and Callie were across the street.

"She has made her choice," her father had declared, before departing. No one had heard from him since.

As Diego's story unfolded, Erica's frustration level had risen, Callie had fretted, and her mother had remained silent. Diego had attempted to break the tension by offering to try and locate his father. Erica had looked at Callie at his suggestion, who had in turn looked to her mother.

"I don't know," said Carmen her hands held tightly in front of her. "He just needs time."

Erica had had been close to walking out. She had sent a lingering look at the door prompting an incredible urge in Callie to grab her hand. She didn't know if that had prevented Erica's departure, but she was glad she had done it. Her mother looked slightly uncomfortable at her actions, but had not said anything and Callie noted that she had tried to smile in their direction although it had come off as a slight wince.

Eventually Diego and her mother had departed to try and find her father and so she and Erica and the kids were able to have a morning together. But it had been tense and while they tried to let the kids' excitement dispel the strange mood that had arisen around them, it didn't quite work and Callie felt the connection they had made last night and this morning disperse like rose petals strewn across a dusty windswept road.

Continued in Chapter 12


	12. Chapter 12

**TITLE: Family (Chapter 12)  
AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. **

**Author's Note: Looks like 14 chapters folks. Thanks for reading if in fact you are still reading. All mistakes are mine.**

Chapter 12

Callie was sleep walking through rounds. She was on autopilot spouting off diagnoses and questions to interns, but she was not really there. It seemed like just a few weeks ago they had been celebrating her adopting Lucas. She knew that to clear the road ahead for Allie's adoption was going to be a bit more laborious, but she hadn't expected their whole lives to be turned upside down. Elaine's plan had caused nothing but pain, misery and nasty sensations that made her stomach twist and tie itself into knots. She still couldn't believe they had agreed to it. To make matters worse, the person she worked things out with, the person she knew she could count on to help her through was not available to her. Actually that wasn't true, she acknowledged in her head as she glanced at the current patient's chart. Erica was available. It was just that Callie hated involving Erica in what she considered her problem. She took a moment to look for changes or notations that would serve as red flags, but the knee replacement was going well. She turned to the patient.

"Any pain Mrs. Marson?"

The woman laughed. "There was pain, but this medication you gave me is helping. Can I take it home with me?"

Callie smiled at her as she set about examining the area around the knee for swelling.

"We'll see what we can do."

She turned to her interns asking them to summarize the case. Webber had been paying close attention to this case and she was grateful that everything seemed to be going well. They still had a pretty virulent infection to deal with, in addition to the increased risk of complication stemming from the fact that this was the woman's second knee replacement. Thankfully everything was looking good.

She tried listening intently to the interns working things out but could not seem to push aside her personal problems just yet. She hadn't shared with Diego or Erica that she had seen David the last two mornings lingering outside the hospital. She hadn't thought there was really anything to report. At the time she figured it was probably part of some psychological game he was playing. But now that she knew he was playing hard to find with Elaine, she wondered. Ultimately it had worked out. Not telling Diego and Erica meant he hadn't disappeared yet – something he would have done inevitably were he confronted.

The important thing was that she could get in touch with him if she wanted to. She thought it might even be why he was there, not bothering to hide from her. He wanted her to know where he was. This time that was going to work in her favor. She was nervous because she knew she had to go it alone. Diego would not understand what she had to do. Erica probably would but would never let her do it alone and alone was the key. She was pretty sure David would flee from anyone else. Still she wished she could discuss it with someone. Suddenly she knew who she had to call. Addison.

By the time she got around to calling Addison, she had wound herself so tight that she could barely explain herself.

"I just...this whole situation has become insane. There's the adoption and then my Dad and David. I need everything to just stop, Addison."

Addison was trying to make sense of her friend's words. "Okay so Allie's father shows up. He either gives up his parental rights or he won't. Either way, he's not getting Allie right? I mean I know adoption is important to you and Erica, but you have other avenues. Don't make this adoption mean more than it has to, Callie. You all are a family whether the state recognizes it or not."

"Addison, of course it's important. It protects Allie and Erica."

"Legal guardianship will do that too. Look from everything you've said, he doesn't really want Allie, so why are you so concerned that he'll take her? All he wants her for is for what she represents, which is a way to get to you and your money."

"Yeah, well I don't technically have any money."

"What?"

"My father kind of disowned me."

Addison laughed. "So after a few months of calm with Erica, you decide to pile on the drama in a few weeks?"

"Very funny," said Callie. "He...I....told them about Erica. He freaked."

Addison didn't miss a beat. "You knew he would."

"It doesn't make it any easier," countered Callie somewhat surprised that Addison was as calm as she was.

"I know. I'm sorry Callie. What does Erica think?"

"She's not surprised at Dad's reaction. They had a little spat of their own at the hospital, which I think made Erica feel better. She didn't have a great experience with her own mom, but...I don't know... this is different. She was never able to establish a relationship with her mother after she came out. I don't want that for me and my father. It's hard for her. She just sees someone who's hurt me and has the potential of hurting Lucas." She paused. "Anyway, the money doesn't matter, I don't need it. We...we don't need it. Well except for..."

"Except for what?"

"I was thinking I would give him what he wants."

"Who? Your Dad?"

"No, David!"

"You're like your brother. He jumps from topic to topic too and just expects you to keep up."

"I'm not like him at all and since when do you know anything about Diego?"

"We've been in touch," said Addison a little nervously.

"Anything I should know about?" asked Callie obligingly. She wanted to smile and tease and be happy that they kind of liked each other or at least she thought they did. Unfortunately she was not really in the mood.

"Not yet," said Addison. "What do you mean, you'll give him what he wants?"

Somewhat relieved that Addison wanted to stay on the David topic, Callie answered: "He wants money. This stupid Elaine person has money to use for just that purpose. I know how to find him, so..."

"Callie if you know how to find him, you need to tell people. Don't go and do something stupid," said Addison her tone far from calm now.

"It isn't stupid. He trusts me and he isn't going to subject himself to the legal system. That's what all the hiding is about. I have to find a different way."

"Don't do anything yet Callie. Let's talk about it some more. How about I come out for a visit? I have some time. God it seems I have nothing but time. I can be there tomorrow."

"That would be so great, Addy. Thank you."

"You know I love Seattle. And Callie, I'm serious, don't do anything stupid. Talk to Erica about this or Diego."

Callie gave her a noncommittal answer before hanging up. She had no plans to talk to two people who would put all of their energy into convincing her that meeting David alone was a bad idea. Nope, she did not need that now and so what happened next was inevitable.

Despite Addison's pleas to wait, she went out in search of David Gentry as soon as she hung up the phone. She walked with purpose to the area where she had seen him lingering earlier and peered outside. He was still there. He was playing with the phone in his possession and was fingering a bus card. Why would he have a bus card? But before she could linger on that thought he spotted her and started taking tentative steps towards her. She picked up her pace, noticed that he did the same, trotting more casually towards her, hands now in his pockets. She had to play this right. Plan in mind, she stopped and waited for him to close the distance between them.

* * *

The wait was interminable. It always was. It usually helped if he had something to distract him and picking up Lucas from basketball was a good distraction for Diego. He watched silently as the coach took the boys through the last of the drills. They were practicing the fine art of passing while still in motion and shooting. One set of kids would run down court dribbling the ball, while a second set of kids took turns setting up in a spot ready to shoot as soon as they received the pass.

He was making mental notes in his head of the tips he wanted to give Lucas and trying to keep his itching hands out of his pockets and his phone. It was all so pointless anyway. The vibrations of the phone would signal the incoming message, so there was no need for him to reach into his pocket and check the screen. But more than once he'd convinced himself that he would not feel the vibrations or that the system of message notification would malfunction and he wouldn't know unless he checked if Addison had responded to him yet.

He knew he was acting slightly insane, but he couldn't seem to help it. For weeks they had been engaging in decidedly non-verbal communications that included long emails and shorter text messages laced with all sorts of possibilities that he usually tried not to think about. She lived in LA. For the time being he was here and he didn't do long distance relationships. But still at night as he lay in bed, he thought about those possibilities. He reviewed every message, analyzed the content, and scrutinized every word for subtext until he started to feel like some psychotic linguist. When he was done with that, the composing started. He wasn't a natural writer, but he found that writing to her was easier than any writing he had been forced to do before. The words just came and he enjoyed setting them down, manipulating sentences and order until he got the right mix of friendly banter layered with hints of suggestion.

He had told himself to stop countless times, sensing what was happening to him and not wanting to deal with all the complexity that the happening would entail. He had convinced himself that he needed to respond with one or two word emails, friendly but void of any subtext. But as he sat waiting for Lucas to finish practice, anxious that he had yet to receive a message from her, he knew he could never do that. He could not imagine stopping entirely or sending meaningless hope you're doing well messages. He would hate to receive that from her, would feel completely blown off. As much as this was not good for him, he couldn't stop it.

He tensed slightly at the coach's whistle signaling the end of the drill and practice. He got up checked that his phone was still in his pocket and walked over to where Lucas was gathering his things in the middle of a gaggle of boys all searching for their shoes and coats, holding on to their basketballs in tiny hands as they searched.

He made small talk with the coach as he waited, resisted the urge once again to check his phone and tried to act as if his insides weren't mush. And then all his efforts went up in smoke. Across the small gym, almost clear on the other side, was his father. Tailored suit, arms crossed in front of him, with an equally cross look in his eye he stood stock still, a pillar, strong and impenetrable. Unlike a pillar though, which pretty much just stands, his father started walking. He walked with purpose towards them, catching Diego's eye and locking onto him. The coach walked away from Diego just as Lucas reached him, sweaty hair matted to his scalp, jacket on but open, his basketball in hand. Diego felt the warmth emanating from Lucas's body as he moved closer to Diego with every step his father took towards them. Carlos stopped right in front of Diego, but his gaze shifted to Lucas.

"You did great," he said and Diego blinked. That had almost sounded proud.

Lucas's hand found Diego's as he answered, "Thank you, sir."

Carlos frowned. Diego didn't know if he was frowning because Lucas had spoken or at the 'sir' or what, but he needed to get the focus off of Lucas.

"Dad? What are you doing here?"

"I came to see the practice. See this young man in action."

Lucas smiled at that, but he was still gripping Diego's hand tightly.

"Okay," said Diego. And because those were the first words his father had said to him in years and because he didn't really know what else to say, he started talking about the practice as if nothing had happened; as if the intervening three years of silence had been whisked away magically.

"Yeah, they're getting pretty good at dribbling without looking at the ball. Lucas is a great shooter."

"I noticed," said his father looking at the both of them now.

And then is if he hadn't disowned Callie, as if they hadn't had that fight, as if no harsh words had been spoken, Carlos Torres proceeded to try and give Lucas pointers about the game of basketball, leaving Diego wondering if he had wandered into the Twilight Zone.

* * *

Diego was pondering the interaction as they walked to the car. He had spent twenty solid minutes talking to his father, talking basketball and Lucas's team's prospects as if the two of them talking wasn't odd. He shook his head, but thoughts of his father were about to take a back seat to something much more pleasant. Just as they reached the car, his phone vibrated in that hauntingly familiar way he had come to associate with Addison. It was a long vibration that immediately set his heart racing. He pulled his phone out even before it had finished emitting its signal only to see the screen go blank. He almost started shouting obscenities at his phone, only barely catching himself in time. His father he could deal with; failed technology, he could not.

"Can I use your computer?" he asked as soon as he walked in the door with Lucas in tow.

"Hello to you too," said Callie.

"Yeah, hey," he said to her.

Lucas set his gear down and went over to Allie who was setting up dinner plates. That was odd. Lucas usually protested at any type of chore. He had been unusually quiet on the ride over too. Generally he was a bundle of energy after practices, giving Diego the play by play of his practice in long sentences that seemed to have no punctuation. Lucas had been excited and animated with his friends, but in the car he had said nothing. Normally Diego would try to get him to talk, but he too had been distracted. His battery had died. He had tried to rouse it one last time once they were buckled in, but the screen only flashed long enough for him to see the low battery warning before it went blank again. He should have noticed how quiet Lucas had been before. In fact, now that he thought about it, the whole house was entirely too quiet.

"Hey guys," he said trying to inject some noise into the space. He walked over to Allie, kissed and rubbed her head in greeting, but she barely acknowledged him.

He looked at Callie, but her eyes refused to meet his as she made her way to the kitchen.

"You know where it is," she said before disappearing.

He stood knowing something was wrong and that he needed to go find out what had happened, but the urge to go to the computer and check his email account had the power to almost overcome all sense of responsibility. God he hated not having a phone. He let out a breath, reminded himself that the world would not end if he waited an hour before reading Addison's message and made his way to the kitchen and whatever problem his sister was having.

* * *

"What's going on?" he asked as he set his jacket over a chair.

"We have a closet," said Callie as she examined whatever was cooking in the oven.

_What the hell? _

"Please do remember to get that giant pole out of your ass when you get a chance. What the hell is going on with you and why are the kids all depressed? Lucas barely spoke to me on the way over here."

"Why do you think they're depressed? They keep asking for Erica and she's not here and if we continue with this stupid plan, she's not going to be here and it sucks and I have to keep telling them that and they don't understand what's happening?"

"I thought you said you were going to put an end to this whole thing?"

"Yeah, well I spoke to Elaine this morning and apparently it's a bad idea."

"Fuck Elaine,"

"Hey! There are kids in the next room, so cut it out with the swearing!"

"Sorry, look this is insane. You're upset; the kids are upset, Erica's always pissed off. You should just stop this madness. David's not going to notice her living here."

"And what if he does? Then we'll be in court where it'll be the lesbians against nice looking boy next door who has finally gotten his act together and successfully completed rehab."

"11 times! He's successfully completed rehab 11 times. I think any judge would question his creditability. Plus you told me yourself, you can't even get him in a courtroom. Is this even a real threat anymore? What does Danielle say?"

"She didn't think this was a good idea from the get go. She thinks we're risking our own credibility with all of this."

"Well there you go," he said.

"Except we already started. According to Elaine, we have to see this through. There's no changing tactics now." She sighed. "The only way to end this is to get him to willingly sign over his rights."

She wasn't looking at him anymore. "I need you to take the kids tomorrow. Mom's gone to stay with Dad, so can you be here for a little while?"

"Sure. What are you doing tomorrow?"

"I'm going to see David."

He laughed because he thought she was kidding. "You don't even know how to get in contact with him."

"I'm going to try the cell numbers he called me from and then every hotel."

"You don't think I've tried that? He contacts you. That's his deal."

"Well I'm about due for another phone call, so, I'm going to arrange to see him because this has to end. I'm not doing this anymore. I hate being apart from her. I'm going to offer him whatever he wants. And tomorrow Erica's moving back in."

"Callie," he said in that tone that reminded her of her father.

"No," she said. "You can't stop me and you can't be a part of it. It has to be me, Diego. I'm the only one he trusts and...I'm the only one that can get him what he wants."

"You don't even know what he wants!" protested Diego.

"Oh please, of course I do. He hasn't said it, but we both know he just wants money. He just likes it to come from me. He doesn't really like to ask. That's why I need to see him alone, Diego. He'll shut down if he sees you." She paused. "He's not gonna hurt me."

"You don't know that," said Diego wrapping his hands tightly around the chair he was grasping.

"You don't know he'll hurt me either. I know him. He wants money. He wants money, not violence. I know you think I'm naive when it comes to him. I'm not. I know what he wants and it has nothing to do with friendship or being a daddy. He wants money. I just have to negotiate the terms."

"Callie, please do not do this."

"There's no other way Diego. You can't stop me. I'm only telling you because I need someone to know."

He wanted to argue, because she looked serious and determined. But it was useless to argue with her when she got like this, so he just reminded himself that the chances that she would get in contact with him tomorrow were slim to none and let it go.

"Alright, whatever you need, I'm here. But seriously Cal, if you go through with this, you will take your cell phone and you have to let me be nearby."

"Fine, whatever," she said as she turned her attention to the pot on the stove.

He waited a few seconds before speaking again. "Dad was at the game."

"Who?"

"Dad"

"Why? How? What for?"

"Mom told him about Lucas's practice. He actually spoke to me." Diego chuckled and settled himself on the chair he had been leaning on. "It was weird. He acted like nothing had happened, like this wasn't the first time he's spoken to me in three years. That was okay though.." He shook his head in disbelief. "He actually...talked to me."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing really. Asked me a bunch of questions about Lucas. He said Hi to Lucas. Told him he was great at practice"

Callie had completely turned around at the mention of Lucas, spoon in hand. "He didn't say anything to him, did he?"

"No, he was nice. Shook his hand and everything. It was a little...weird, but good." He smiled.

Callie returned the smile and inexplicably, for the first time in weeks, Diego thought everything would be alright. She turned back around to her stirring. Whatever she was cooking smelled great and woke his appetite something viscous, but he had something else he needed to do before he could think about his stomach.

"So I can use your computer, right?" he asked getting up.

"Go nuts," she said without looking at him.

* * *

A few minutes later he was feeding a different type of hunger. He was reading an email, longish which he rather enjoyed with lots of intriguing information that he was trying to process too fast. He let out a breath and had to fight his desire to click on reply. He had discovered this not too long ago. Quick replies were a bad idea.. He was always tempted to answer right away, but his mind would race ahead of him wanting to say everything and it usually came out in a jumbled mess. So he had learned all about drafts and editing and that sometimes you had to let something come out in a rush, but you never sent that one. You never sent the first one. And since he was at his sister's house, he would just have to let this one sit for awhile.

Later he would compose something that he hoped would be clear and not as messy as the things in his head. He couldn't let that pour out of him. How he thought about her eyes constantly and how he tried to imagine how that beautiful red hair would feel in his hands. How he dreamed of her at night and how she was his first thought when he awoke. And especially how after all of this crazy business with David was over, he would need to go see her. It was a desire he barely kept under wraps, growing in intensity with every passing day. He was heading for disaster and he knew it, but for once, he really didn't care.

* * *

Callie watched him walk away and head for the study. She felt guilty about not being completely honest, but there was no way she was going with the whole truth. What she had said to him was true. She did want someone to know. She had intended that someone to be Addison, but Addison wouldn't be here until late tomorrow and what she was planning would happen midday. Diego would be pissed afterward, but if everything worked according to her plan, it would all be moot. David would sign the papers and effectively be out of their lives. She had him and she knew it because she knew him. She knew he was desperate. There was no way he was hiding his desperation from her no matter how big his smile. She also knew he was bullshit and had no interest in Allie. She just needed to dangle enough fruit in front of him to make it worth his while and she thought she had that now. Elaine's $5 million and her trust fund which her father had not made an effort to revoke yet, had to be enough. In her experience money always complicated things. It was the reason she never told anyone about her family's money. It made people act weird. This one time she was hoping it would work in her favor. By this time tomorrow, everything would be over. She was convinced of it.  
________________________________

Continued in Chapter 13


	13. Chapter 13

**TITLE: Family (Chapter 13)  
AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**Author's Note: Chapter 13 got a little out of control, so it had to be broken up. Thanks for reading folks. I promise we are approaching the end. All mistakes are mine.**

Chapter 13

Addison was proud of herself. She had up wrapped everything she needed to early, making it possible to catch a much earlier flight to Seattle. _God, private practice was heavenly._ Now she was sitting in a cab enjoying a lovely cup of Seattle coffee on her way to Callie and Erica's house. She loved Seattle coffee. She missed Seattle coffee. She sat and tried to relax and enjoy the warm air drifting in from the window, warm air being something she had never quite associated with Seattle. She had no idea what she would do if she ran into Diego, but she didn't expect to see him at the house this early. She knew he worked strange hours though, so there was always the possibility that he would be around. It was one of the exciting things about this whole thing with him, not knowing when an email or text was going to show up. He sent her the oddest things. He sent her pictures of the mountains encased in fog, squirrels eating strange things and once a picture of one of the critters exploring an empty Starbucks cup. She loved the text messages the best. He sometimes sent his observations: "Just saw a guy in a track suit, running shoes, baseball cap, smoking....go figure." Sometimes he would tell her about good places to eat, which she had taken as subtle hints of the places he wanted to take her. And he always told her when he was drinking coffee and exactly how good it was. She in turn sent him messages calling him mean and a jerk. It hadn't stopped him and she had been glad. It was fun to play with him, but lately his emails had gotten a little intense and so she was slightly uneasy about this trip and his expectations, because she had none. Their whole thing was fun and she got a lot of joy out of it, but beyond that, well she didn't think about the beyond. She looked out the window as the scenery became more recognizable and tried relaxing some more as she sipped. It would only be a few minutes now.

* * *

Diego was frowning at LEGO pieces. He was sitting legs crossed trying to figure out what Lucas was doing. Lucas seemed to know exactly what he was creating, while Diego was at a loss as to what to do with the pieces in his hand. He absently fitted them together and then looked at his nephew and niece with some fascination. They seemed so adept at this. He could kind of recognize Allie's creation, but Lucas's was a mess. It was all different colors with no pattern Diego could distinguish.

Callie had left only a few minutes ago. The hospital had called, she had told him and so even though she had been unable to contact David, which didn't surprise him, he was babysitting anyway. He heard a car in the driveway and looked up. Had she forgotten something? He got up, his natural caution bringing him to the window. It wasn't her. It was a cab. He looked perplexed, but now his senses were starting to prickle. They would go crazy in the next moment as he saw the cab's lone inhabitant glide out of it.

Jesus was she always this graceful?

He swallowed and absently rubbed suddenly sweaty palms on his jeans as he tried to take control of his breathing; the insane beating in his heart he could do nothing about. But his body's reactions were about to shift again. He opened the door just as the taxi started backing out. One look in her eyes told him something was very wrong.

* * *

Callie drove slow and steady. She was fighting to stay calm because this whole thing had just gotten very real for her and much to her dismay her neat and orderly plans had shifted and changed making her feel very uneasy. She had planned on telling Diego about her meeting with David, had laid the groundwork for that last night, but this morning she had flipped back around to not telling him anything. She was afraid he would insist on going and ruin everything, so she had switched gears and left him with the impression that she was headed for the hospital. She had wanted to meet David somewhere near Danielle's office, where Elaine would be there ready with the paperwork he would need to sign. But David had insisted on an earlier meeting and Elaine could not get everything prepared in time. That had been the second change in plans that had Callie just slightly nervous. Now she had to figure out a way of getting David to the office later in addition to convincing him to sign over his parental rights. Getting Elaine to draw up the paperwork had been a struggle too. She'd had to come down hard with the 'I'm the client' line before Elaine relented. The wheels were now in motion and although she thought she should be feeling more confident, the closer she got to her destination, the more real everything became and the more nervous she got.

According to Diego, David was involved in a dangerous world and you didn't remain free of the violence of that world no matter how charming or squeaky clean you looked. She didn't think David would really hurt her, but she knew Diego was right about one thing: David was someone who was potentially dangerous. She was about to meet with a person who wasn't exactly trustworthy and no one knew where she was. Damn. The plan had made so much sense last night: Meet him, force his hand and that would be that. She had even almost told Erica about it.

Their conversation last night had started a bit awkwardly. Erica had been at the hospital dealing with a patient who was having complications. She had taken a special interest in him and while Erica always gave her patients her best, some patients, sometimes just affected her more. This 56 year-old with the wife who came everyday and the son and daughter that took turns at their parents' bedside had touched her.

Callie had just finished telling Diego that she'd had enough of them living apart and she meant it, so when she called Erica after he left, it was to ask her if she wanted to spend the night at home.

"Of course, I do, but do you think that's a good idea?" asked Erica and Callie could tell she was trying to keep her voice steady.

"I don't care," answered Callie. "I miss you."

Erica had sighed into the phone. "I miss you too and there is nothing I want more than to go home, but is it a good idea?"

"Yes, it's the best idea. It's better for you and me and the kids."

"I thought Elaine said we should stick to the plan?" asked Erica.

"She did, but I'm the client and frankly I'm sick of other people telling me what to do with my life."

"Are you sure? Doesn't this mess up her big legal strategy?"

"As far as I'm concerned that was a big fat dud."

"Then yes, I would love to come home," said Erica and she sounded so relieved that Callie almost told her right then. She almost broke down and told her this would be over soon and that coming home need not be thought of as risky. Erica's next question had distracted her though.

"Speaking of people telling you what to do, have you spoken to your Dad yet?"

Only one thing at a time; Callie could only handle one thing at a time and that one thing had to be David, not her father.

"Not yet," she answered.

"I don't mean to tell you what to do either, Callie, but he might want to talk. I don't think he's changed his mind, but...he's here and that probably means something."

"He told you to leave me alone."

"According to your Mom, he's still here. If he had only come here to tell me to leave you alone, he'd be gone by now."

"I know. Did I tell you he went to watch Lucas's practice?"

"He did?"

"He talked to Diego, shook Lucas's hand. I think Diego was kind of freaked."

"Callie, what happened between Diego and your father?"

"Diego didn't want to be a lawyer. He went to law school on Dad's suggestion. He hated it, tried to quit, but Dad just wouldn't let him. When Diego found out he could go into law enforcement with a law degree, he kind of struggled through school and then went straight to the FBI. Dad was furious, tried to make him quit and when Diego refused, he just stopped talking to him."

"I don't understand that."

"Dad's just...old school. He thinks he's this patriarch because that's what his Dad was. He thinks he knows what's right for us. He definitely does not like it when we don't agree."

"I don't ever want to do that to Lucas or Allie."

"We won't," said Callie smiling into the phone. "So are you on your way home?"

"Yeah, I just have a few patients to check on. I'll see you in a little while."

But Erica's first night back home would be cut short. After very long hugs and an even longer snuggle session, just when her and Erica had settled in and they had finally felt relaxed, Erica's beeper had started blaring. Her patient had coded and so she had rushed to the hospital in the early morning hours, leaving Callie fingering the pillow next to her in what felt like a very big, very empty bed.

Callie put thoughts of Erica out of her head. She had to stay focused. She had a few more minutes before she arrived at her destination and her plan was about to shift yet again. She dialed quickly eyes darting back and forth between her phone and the road, intent on leaving Addison a message about where she was going. Surprised when Addison answered she rushed through the conversation telling her where she was going and why, swearing her to secrecy and hanging up quickly. Now at least one person knew where she would be.

* * *

Erica was signing the last of her charts. Her patient was stable but she had ordered Yang to monitor him. Yang would know what to do if something went wrong and could hold off disaster until Erica arrived. Erica wanted to go home. For the first time in what seemed like forever, she was excited about leaving the hospital. She scribbled a few more notes with a tired hand scratched her initials on the paper and was finally ready to go. It was going to be a long day and there was a lot to deal with, but she was looking forward to it. First order of business was moving back home. She hadn't realized just how much that was affecting her until Callie had asked her to come back last night. Today, despite being called in to the hospital in the middle of the night, she didn't feel as tired as she thought she should. Just the knowledge that she wouldn't be apart from Callie and the kids had lifted the fog she had been in. Her conversation with Callie had helped too. It felt good to be talking about things together again and not just having Callie tell her about her meetings with Elaine or Danielle. She felt a part of it again.

She went to her office grabbed her things and locked the door. The last person she expected to see as she made her way to the elevators was Carlos Torres. Had he been waiting for her? He looked up as she approached and started walking towards her. Not anxious for another showdown she tried to step around him just as he extended his hand in greeting. She looked at it and then at him somewhat wearily.

"Dr. Hahn," he said still waiting with his hand extended.

She reached out hers trying to remind herself that he was still Callie's father and that despite his behavior, Callie still loved him.

"Mr. Torres," she said as she felt his hand in hers. He removed his hand and looked around.

"I was wondering if we could talk for a few minutes."

"Okay," she said as she turned around and made her way back to her office. She didn't know what to expect, but at least he didn't seem angry.

They reached her office and in a matter of minutes had taken almost the same spots they had occupied the first time they'd had a conversation; she in her chair seated comfortably and he standing in front of her desk.

"I don't like you," he said.

She blinked, but said nothing. She didn't want to. Whether or not he liked her, was not something that kept her up at night. Maybe all she needed to do was let him have his say and he'd be on his way.

"My wife has pointed out to me, however, that it doesn't matter if I like you. My daughter seems to...be fond of you, so I need to learn to....accept that."

He paused and looked at her, but she remained silent, curious as to where he was going with all of this and even more perplexed as to why he was standing here telling her this instead of Callie.

"This is difficult for me. I am a very powerful man, Dr. Hahn. I'm used to people doing what I say, when I say it. It is difficult for a man like me to accept...other choices...things I do not approve of."

She sat and waited ignoring the pauses he was taking between statements, natural breaks that in a normal conversation would be her prompts to say something.

"I don't approve of this...relationship," he continued when it became clear she was not taking his conversational hints.

Still she said nothing. She was beginning to enjoy her own silence. She could tell it made him uneasy, something else he was probably not used to.

"But regardless of that, my daughter has made her choice and now I have to decide whether I want to lose her over this." He looked at her. "I don't."

She wanted to say 'good' and that he was making the right decision because she knew it would make Callie happy that he didn't want to lose her, but she waited. He seemed to have more to say and while the basic idea he was laying out to Erica was good, he had yet to set out the conditions and with a man like him, there were always conditions.

He looked down and then back at her. "It appears, Dr. Hahn that I have very few options. I love my daughter. She, it seems, loves you. That leaves me two choices. I can accept that or reject it. I am choosing to accept it....for now."

There was silence for a good two minutes. Finally she got up and walked around her desk to stand in front of him.

"You're obviously expecting some response from me. Why don't you just ask me what you want to ask or say whatever it is you feel you need to say? I don't play games Mr. Torres and I'm not enjoying this one, so get to the point."

"Can you take care of her?" he asked.

Erica let out a frustrated chuckle and crossed her arms. "You're serious? That's what you want to know?" She shook her head at his impassive face. "She can take care of herself. She takes care of Allie and Lucas and me and herself. I take care of all of them as well and they all take care of me. It's what families do. If you're worried about my financial security, I'll open my books. Take a look. If you want to know if I'll defend her with my life - I would do so without hesitation. None of that gets to the essence of what we mean to each other. We love each other. We're not just friends, we're not buddies, we're not sisters; we're lovers. Be prepared to accept that as well."

He looked a little stunned and for a moment cast his eyes towards his shoes. He placed his hands in his pockets and let out a breath.

"Dr. Hahn, I understand that you are not simple housemates. I don't understand a lot about what you're saying, but my wife...she says I don't have to. I just need to know that my little girl is safe and lov... cared for. I need to know that the person she is with will make sure she doesn't work herself so hard she gets sick. That she will have a roof over her head and food on the table. I need to know that the person she is with will help her bring in the groceries and fix the leak in the faucet and make sure the oil in her car has been changed."

Erica was blinking in disbelief, but understanding was dawning on her. She got it now. He really didn't understand their relationship and maybe he never would, but he had seemingly found a way he could think about it and accept it. He was asking her in short if she was going to be a good husband.

"Yes," she said only vaguely aware that it wasn't exactly a yes or no question he had asked. "She'll take care of me and I'll take care of her."

He nodded. "Thank you," he said and extended his hand once again.

She shook it, felt weird about doing so, but pushed that to the side. They would never have a perfect relationship and there were bound to be issues, but regardless of how he had viewed her or them or their relationship, at least he was trying. It was more than her mother had done and for that she had to give him credit.

He turned to go and she felt like she had to give him something. "Feel free to stop by anytime," she said.

He turned. "Pardon me?"

"The house. I know you haven't seen as much of Allie as you'd like. You're welcome to come and spend time with her," she clarified.

"And that young man," he said. "According to my son, he's a pretty good football player."

He struggled through a smile before shaking his head and walking out.

She was trying to process all of that as she reached for her phone intent on calling Callie. At least one of their problems had seemed to resolve itself and that was news that had to be shared. Her phone rang before she could fish it out of her bag. She looked at the screen once she had retrieved it and frowned as she hit talk.

"Addison?"

* * *

This was getting fucking ridiculous, thought David as he gathered his things. He knew better than to use a credit card for more than one day and so he had been changing hotels daily since he had arrived. But he was running out of viable credit cards and it was getting riskier and riskier to swipe them. The busses were the most lucrative place to acquire wallets. Crowded places, where bumping into another person was a natural, almost expected occurrence was easy. Rush hour happened twice a day five days a week, so he had found himself on Seattle s busses often, but he didn't like it. Pick pocketing was an art and one that he had honed in his younger days, but it was small potatoes and you never really knew whose pocket you were picking. It could be some guy with no credit cards or a horrible credit history or someone who had already maxed out their credit cards. So he had to hit two or three folks and then try and figure out from the contents of their wallet which card was safest to use for a night at a hotel.

He walked out of the room making sure to take the key card with him. It would be no good after today, but one never knew when a programmable card would come in handy.

He wasn't the brightest of men, but he wasn't stupid either and he thought he was being followed, which meant they had found him. They would make contact soon and he needed to be able to tell them something. Callie had been less then cooperative. His usual charms or veiled threats were not working as they had in the past. She was all nerves and suspicions. He had been counting on being able to get quick money out of her, but he'd already been here way longer than he had planned and he was getting nowhere. Yesterday he had pulled out his ace, had asked to see a picture of the kid again as they stood talking in front of the hospital. She had been surprised at the request. She had stuttered her way through their exchange, but in the end she had refused. He had let his disappointment show. She didn't need to know that it was more out of frustration. Instead he let her believe the disappointment was at the missed opportunity to see the kid. He had no desire to see that kid. She was Callie's not his.

He had gotten nowhere at the hospital either when he tried asking about her. All the folks he talked to went on about what a good surgeon she was. When he asked about boyfriends, a couple of them had laughed and said no, then looked at him strangely, so he had smiled and then disappeared. He would not try the hospital again. He thought one person had mentioned kids as in more than one, but he had dismissed them outright as not knowing her well enough. He needed a new plan and desperately. He cruised around in the car he had snagged from someone who was on vacation. Social networking sites were great for finding out which people were on vacation. He had thought of crashing there for the duration but it was too clean cut a neighborhood and his coming and going would surely be noticed.

He found the restaurant where he was meeting Callie easily and parked as he considered what to do. He got out and put everything that suggested he was not staying somewhere stable in the trunk. He was early so there was no chance of Callie pulling up as he rearranged the bags and towels he had snagged. Just as he was stuffing everything in and closing the trunk, a car pulled up. He turned expecting to see Callie, but his flight mode kicked in as soon as he saw the dark sedan with tinted windows pulling up next to him. He started to bolt, but he did not have a clear path as he had to get around the stolen car he was using and so he didn't get very far.

He never saw the guys get out of the car. He only felt his body being crushed, a knee at his back and his arms being pulled back unnaturally. He wanted to scream, but a hand was already around his mouth covering up any screams he might have been able to get out. He thought about biting, but felt fists on his back and what he thought might have been kicks to his midsection that distracted him. He pushed hard against the hands holding him down, but the weight on him seemed to increase. Finally the weight was lifted, but the pressure on his arms and the hand around his mouth did not let up. He was being shoved now into the dark sedan. He tried to duck his head, but was too late. The top of his head banged sickeningly on the frame of the car and then he was being pushed all the way in. His hands were freed momentarily, but in seconds two guys were clamoring into the car on each side of him, guns pointed at various parts of his body.

Continued in Chapter 14


	14. Chapter 14

**TITLE: Family (Chapter 14)  
AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. **

**Author's Note: Okay folks, this is totally way, way out there, but you know what? Since this is my last fic in this genre, I went with it anyway.**

Chapter 14

Someone in the front seat turned around.

"Davey!" the person said in what sounded like some perverted sing-songy voice. "You don't call, you don't write and you have our money. Now, that just isn't right. Family does not leave their benefactors. There are consequences to leaving the family in the lurch. You've done that Davey and we are unhappy. When we're unhappy, the family is unhappy and we don't like unhappy, especially when _you_ can make everything better."

David said nothing. He was desperately trying to think. He had no money with which to appease his captors and nothing short of money or promises, genuine promises of money, would satisfy. He knew that. He had seen these guys operate.

"I'm getting it. Why do you think I'm here?" he said in a matter of fact tone that he hoped would convey self-assurance, especially since he had none, but Callie was due to show up at any moment and he needed out of this car.

"Oh, you're getting it?" said the guy in the front seat. "Well that makes everything better. Why didn't you just say so before taking off? We expended lots of money trying to find you Davey. And to think this whole time, you were getting it."

The man paused waiting for David to say something, but David waited. He knew they didn't believe him, but they weren't killing him yet and he knew the family and how they operated. They liked to keep good performers alive and not dead and he was a good performer. They knew it too and so even if they didn't believe him, they would give him a chance. He had been hoping for more time, but he was at the end of the road. He would have to get the money from Callie one way or another, kid or no kid.

It came to him in a flash, how he could get the money and cover himself. Clearing his throat, he spoke.

"I have a plan, but now that you're here I feel better about it, since I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it myself. This way, you guys are guaranteed your money. No tricks, no gimmicks."

The front seat passenger laughed mockingly. "Okay, Davey, tell us your plan," he said as if he was dealing with a child.

"There's this girl."

More laughter. "There's always a girl."

David looked at him waiting for a sign that he should proceed. When no other snide comments were forthcoming, he continued. "Her father owns a huge hotel chain. Big bucks. We're talking trust fund baby. She's easy prey. We take her, ask for a ransom, boom you get your money and we're even."

Everyone in the car was laughing now. "Kidnapping? That's pretty serious and pretty stupid. That's not how we do things, Davey. That's not how the family does things. Kidnapping is a felony which means FBI."

"It's the only way to get the money and its easy. I can help you lure her. We used to be friends in school. I'll make sure she's compliant. Her father can give us the money from his current account. It's small change to him and he'll pay. I guarantee he'll pay."

"You're an idiot. Kidnapping? Did you not hear me Davey? That involves police and FBI. No way."

David sat up straighter. He needed to sell this. "We could do it now. She's on her way here. We could grab her, make the call and have the money by this afternoon." He was excited now. This would be better than trying to sweet talk the money out of Callie.

"Yeah and I'll bet we get to be the kidnappers and you get to be the supportive friend. Right, Davey?"

"Listen her father has loads of money. We could probably garner extra, line the pockets of some loyal family members like yourselves."

The laughter continued. "Davey, Davey, Davey. Kidnapping is not that lucrative and it takes more planning than this. Besides, there is no lining of pockets. The family would know. They always know and then we'd be dead before we got to enjoy any part of whatever money you claim this guy has."

David heard a car pull up in the parking lot. It was probably Callie. He cursed silently. She was early.

"Alright fine, it's a stupid plan, but that's probably her right now. You gotta at least let me see if I can get the money from her."

"Sure, Davey, sure. But we'll be right here and we'll be watching, so don't get no ideas. The next time we ain't gonna be so friendly, Davey. One way or another, we'll get what's owed to us."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said trying to display more confidence then he felt. He got out climbing over the guy seated to his right. He thought about coming clean with Callie, but dismissed it. She had been somewhat colder to him this time around and he felt that his chances of getting anything from her were diminishing with each day. He had to act and he had to act now. With one last look at the dark sedan he straightened his clothes and made his way into the bar.

* * *

Callie was waiting for him by the bar with what looked like orange juice in a glass. He put on his best smile, elevated his pitch and addressed her.

"Hey, Callie! Wow, you look great."

He sat down quickly and made sure to look at her as he said the words, even though his eyes wanted to turn and look for the bartender. He was hoping for a smile, even a mocking smile would have been welcome, but all he got from her was a suspicious glare. He finally relented to his body's desire and looked for the bartender. He ordered a club soda with lime resisting the urge to order something much stronger. He still had no plan and he needed to come up with one before Callie left. He looked back at her after placing his order.

"So, how are you Callie?"

"Cut out the nonsense little game you're playing David and tell me what you really want."

He studied her keeping his face neutral, betraying none of the panic that was welling up inside him. After a few seconds of silence she spoke again.

"I'm not buying it this time, David and I'd really like to just get on with the rest of my life. I'm not an idiot. I know you want something and it isn't to see Allie."

He tried laughing lightly. "How can you be sure?" he asked trying to say it with some authority.

"I just am," she replied before taking a sip of her drink.

He looked away. He had a feeling that this time would not be like the others. He didn't know why or how, but Callie was different this time. Gone was the neediness that had caught his attention when they had first met. She didn't seem to be seeking out attention or approval or validation or whatever it was she was looking for all those years ago. She seemed impatient with him and for the first time in a long career of cons, he felt exactly like that: a con man. She wasn't buying it and no amount of smoke and mirrors or shoddy paint jobs would convince her of what he was trying to sell. But she was still his only option and so he took a deep breath and for once told the truth.

"I need money," he said simply.

"Of course you do," she said listening to the ice clink in her glass. "How much?"

He gave her a genuine chuckle now. "Don't you even want to know why?"

"No," she said.

"Half a million dollars," he said never taking his eyes off her.

She closed her eyes momentarily before looking up at him. "Done, but I need something from you."

His heart was thumping as loud as the bass on a souped up car. He felt it throughout his body vibrating to some unknown beat. His palms got sweaty.

"Anything you want," he said in his excitement.

"I need you to give up any claim to Allie."

He blinked in surprise. He didn't think she would ask that. He didn't know what he expected, but it was his ace this idea he had that Callie would never deny him the kid. He chuckled again before looking away trying to outthink his own brain. He needed the money, knew one way or another she could get it. But if he gave up any claims to the kid, there would be no going back to her.

"You can't expect me to..." he started to protest.

"That's the deal David. You want the money, you need to give up all claims to her. You don't know her, she doesn't know you. Half a million dollars is a lot of money, so I know you must owe someone something. This isn't a negotiation. There won't be any deals. If you don't take it, I'm suing you for child support."

"Child support? Are you freaking joking? You're a surgeon. You make tons more money than I do. I should be suing you for alimony."

"We were never married jackass. I wanted to, remember? You left. Best favor you ever did me. That's the deal. I'm sick of playing this little game with you. This is the last time."

She made a move to get up, but he reached for her hand and blocked her way. "You could lose her," he said pausing for effect. "You want to sue me, they'll give me visitation. She'll know who I am."

"I know," she said pulling her hand from his. "But I don't think you really want that, do you?"

She had him there and they both knew it. He had never wanted to be a father, had never asked to see the child he shared genes with. He searched her eyes but they were guarded and closed to him. He only registered the steely gaze that held his with a strength he did not know she possessed.

"Fine," he said in order to seem cooperative and buy himself more time. There had to be a way to get his money and not lose the leverage he had over her. Everyone needed a safety net and she was his, whether she knew it or not, whether she liked it or not. He would not give that up without a fight. He saw the utter relief that invaded her as she expelled breath. She had expected him to respond in the negative. Point in his favor.

She was intent on leaving though and he was not through with her. He thought briefly of enticing a meal out of her, but saw the resolve in her eyes. She considered him for a moment, then looked in her purse and pulled out a card.

"Meet me at this address," she said handing it to him. "Tonight. We'll hammer out the details." She paused. "You could have your money tonight," she said to him before turning away.

He hated that she was making this difficult. Tonight would not be enough time. He needed to figure out how to get his money and not lose his access to her.

"Don't these things take time?" he asked trying to buy himself time.

"They don't have to," she said still making her way to the door. He followed her out before the bartender called him back. He threw a few bills on the bar and sprinted out the door catching up to her as she reached her car.

"Hey can I hitch a ride?" he asked trying once again to put on the school boy charm that had worked so many times before. He gave her a full smile as he scratched the back of his head.

She was holding her door open and looked around. He looked around too, noticing the dark sedan parked inconspicuously near the back entrance of the bar.

"How did you get here?" she asked slightly confused.

"Oh I walked. I need money remember," he said again trying for sheepish. He needed her to start trusting him again, at least for a little while.

She rolled her eyes. "Where too?" she asked as she got in the driver's side.

He rushed over to the passenger's side and hopped in trying to think of one of the hotels he had stayed at. They were all seedy.

"Where are you going?" he asked in what he hoped was not an overly friendly voice.

"I'm going to the hospital," she said as she started the engine. "I can drop you anywhere between here and there, but I'm not driving out of my way, so your choice."

She pulled out of the parking lot slowly.

"Hospital's fine," he said. My hotel is near there," he lied as he looked in the mirror. Sure enough the dark sedan was following them. Now he just had to see if he could force them to go along with his plan.

"Callie," he said all cheerfulness fake or real leaving him the moment he started reaching for his ankle.

"Yeah," she said eyes still on the road.

He knew she heard the click. Her face paled at the sound. She didn't even turn her head to confirm its presence. He was shaking and almost laughed out loud at that fact. He had never been good at this even though it was part of who he was. He was more comfortable with the con, getting people to do what he wanted all the while making them feel as if it was their idea or something they wanted to do. He knew how to use the Smith & Wesson he was holding to her head, had held this very gun to other people's heads when the con had run its course or, as in this case, when someone were being plain stubborn, but this was different. This was Callie and despite how everything had started and ended, she had always been pleasant to him. He had never imagined having to do this, but the game was survival. His father's voice rang in his ear again. Take what you want, clear and simple. That's all he was doing.

"You need to pullover and we're both going to get out of this car."

"Are you fucking insane?" she said making no move to pull over.

Maybe she had noticed his shaking too.

"I already agreed to give you money," she said.

"Yeah, but I can't sign those papers," he said still holding the gun close to her head. He resisted the urge to steady his shaking hand with his other hand and just continued to hold it there.

"Pull over, Callie."

"What are you going to do?" she asked still keeping her hands on the wheel steady and staring straight ahead.

"You're going to let me drive the car and then you're going to give me money and there will be no signing over of anything."

She laughed, but miraculously started pulling over. He acknowledged her actions by pulling the gun away from her head. He looked straight ahead. She would do what he wanted. He was sure of it now.

"David, the deal is you sign or I take you to court. Either way, we will resolve this. If I take you to court, it means you'll owe me money. You use that thing, you get no money, so where's the angle? For you, I mean. I know you're not stupid. Think it through David."

"I sign I lose everything," he said stealing a glance at her. If you make me do this, I want more." Finally he turned to look at her full on. He had an opportunity here and he didn't want to miss it. He didn't know where the dark sedan was. He hadn't seen it pass, but he hadn't been looking especially hard when he was holding the gun to her head. He was sure they were around somewhere.

"Half a million dollars is a lot of money. How much more do you want?" she asked and he felt like she was losing patience with him. To his surprise the gun had not seemed to faze her. He went for broke.

"I want your trust fund." He expected silence, maybe laughter. He didn't expect a yes, but that's exactly what he got.

"Yes?" he asked not hiding his surprise.

"Sure," she said as if he had asked for $100 dollars instead of the substantial trust fund her father had provided. "I don't need it. My daughter doesn't need it. You want it, you can have it, but not without you disappearing from our lives forever."

He was thinking. There had to be a catch. He wondered only briefly if he could figure it out right there, then decided that it wasn't worth it. He could walk away with her entire trust fund. He picked up his gun and looked at it. "Okay," he said. He felt its weight in his hands as he considered his next move. He thought about what Callie had just agreed to and what would hopefully happen in the next few days. He wanted to trust her, trust that she would keep her word. Callie was as trustworthy a person as he would ever find, but you didn't leave things like this to chance, so he kept the gun in his hands.

"We're going to get out here and walk up to the second floor offices of my lawyer. You'll sign the papers you need to sign and I'll give you my trust fund," she said calmly.

"I want a guarantee. I know you can't just give me the money today, but I need something drawn up."

"No problem. She can take care of that too," said Callie as she opened the car door and stepped out, very deliberately focusing on the door to the building she had parked in front of and not, he was surprised to note, on him. He stepped out of the car, gun still in his hand, and let his gaze rest on her. In hindsight, he thought he should have known. He should have anticipated; he should have expected the force that came at him as soon as he stepped out of the car. His father would be have been disappointed.

* * *

Callie had seen Diego in the parking lot along with another car that had followed them out. She knew as soon as David asked for a ride that her brother would be following and just hoped he kept his distance. She had noticed when the weird sedan turned off and breathed easier. She had been imagining all sorts of bad things about that sedan and was glad she had been wrong. Addison must have blurted what she knew to Diego. She had been upset at first that Addison hadn't kept her secret, but as soon as she'd heard that click, she felt better that her brother was somewhere nearby. Once the gun had made an appearance, her focus had changed from signing papers to getting out of the car and out of the reach of David's gun. She didn't think he'd really use it against her, but he seemed desperate and desperate people were unpredictable. She had been surprised that his attention seemed focused on her and not his surroundings when he stepped out of the car, but perhaps the possibility of so much money was clouding his judgment. Either way, he didn't see Diego and even if Diego had not been moving like a blur, Callie thought David probably should have.

* * *

Diego had used his body almost like an anvil, crushing David and pinning him to the car. One of his legs had somehow gotten in between David's, his hands focused on the gun in David's hand, which dropped almost on impact. Callie stood wondering what she should do. She heard David's very audible grunt and Diego's curses and then David was being turned forcefully and his chest hit the hood of her car.

"Bastard!" she heard him say.

"You got a license to carry that gun, asshole?" asked Diego as he reached for cuffs from somewhere.

"GET OFF ME!" shouted David as his arms were being pulled back. "I think you've bruised me you little shit. This is police brutality!"

"You wanna go there, let me know and I'll make it worth your while by breaking something," said Diego finally taking a breath after he'd managed to cuff David. He turned to Callie. "You okay?"

She only managed a nod.

"Callie, we had a deal. Tell him we had a deal. I won't sign if he doesn't let me go. Tell him Callie," pleaded David.

All thoughts of deals had gone out the window when he had pulled out a gun, but he had agreed. She hadn't expected him to, but he had and for a moment she was tempted to tell Diego to let him go. She looked at Diego.

"Callie, don't. He's scum and he's going to jail for attempted kidnapping. He's not a threat." He was speaking carefully almost in code and she cringed. This is what she had hated about this whole thing. She hated the hiding and the lies and the subterfuge. It was ridiculous.

She nodded at him in agreement. "Should I call the cops?" she asked him.

"No, I'll do it," Diego said quickly as he turned from her and reached for his phone.

"CALLIE! Don't do this Callie! Tell him I wasn't trying to kidnap you."

"But you were," she said softly because she hadn't believed he was capable of that. "You were willing to do anything." She chuckled weirdly. "Diego was right about you all along."

"HE IS NOT RIGHT!" David shouted as he tried to turn around, but Diego increased the pressure with his right hand. "CALLIE, that's not true! We had a deal. I put the gun down, Callie."

"You put a gun to my head, asshole," she said allowing her anger and frustration to come out.

"Come on," he said mockingly. "You weren't even scared."

"You don't know anything about me," she said taking out her phone and turning towards the building that held Danielle's office, sincerely hoping that it would be the last time she ever saw him. It was unlikely, but it was nice to dream. She never got the opportunity to dial.

"Interesting little situation we have here," came a voice out of nowhere.

She stopped and turned to see three guys in dark suits surrounding them. Diego reached for his gun, but found one pointed at his face in seconds.

"I hate to do this, but I can't let you take this man into custody," said the shortest man who seemed to be the spokesman for the group. "We're just gonna take little Davey here with us and as for the two of you..."

"They're not going anywhere. You can take him and walk," said a cold voice behind them. Erica had taken them by surprise. They weren't expecting her and perhaps that was why they did not immediately turn and point their guns at her head. That or the nearly six feet tall woman pointing at gun directly at Mr. Spokesman's head gave them food for thought.

"Erica?" asked Callie in a shaky voice.

Erica did not acknowledge her. Diego was cursing under his breath.

"You want him, take him, but the other two stay. I don't know who you are and I don't care, but they are not going anywhere."

The spokesman stared at her face and then her steady, calm hands for a few seconds before raising his hands in surrender and nodding. "Gentleman, let's escort Davey here to the car."

One of the men approached David, but Diego stepped in front of him.

"You are interfering with a federal investigation...."

"Diego just shut up. You can lock me up if you want," said Erica never taking her eyes off the Spokesman.

With a steely glance at the man in front of him, Diego stepped to the side.

"Erica, this is a mistake," he said still eyeing the guy manhandling David.

"Yeah, well I'm sick of sitting back and letting things fall apart around me, so today we're doing things my way."

"Erica," he said again as he watched David get tossed into a dark sedan.

"I wasn't going to do anything to them," said the spokesman to Erica, still seemingly fascinated by her steady hands.

"Good, that way I don't have to blow your brains out," she responded in an equally steady voice.

He laughed. "Lady, I don't know who you are or why you care about these people, but I believe you." He paused. "You have the steadiest hands I've ever seen," he said with a gesture that resembled a salute before climbing into the front seat of the plain looking sedan with the dark windows. It pulled away slowly and quietly.

Diego was on the phone within seconds. Callie approached Erica reluctantly.

"Jesus sweetie!" she said reaching out a hand to calm Erica who had put the gun down, but still seemed tense. "Do you even know how to use that thing?"

"Not a clue," said Erica. "It's Diego's. Thankfully he left his car open in his haste to get to the two of you." She had started shaking but seemed reluctant to actually look at Callie.

"You okay?" asked Callie rubbing her back.

"Why didn't you tell me you were meeting him?" asked Erica moving away from Callie.

Callie was taken aback. "I...I didn't think...I just wanted him out of our lives."

"That's what I want too Callie. Did you forget that? Did you forget we're in this together? Do you even want...forget it," she said walking away from Callie and toward Diego. "Here, this is yours. What happens now?" she asked crossing her arms. Callie had walked over as well, but remained silent.

"We go to the station," he sighed. "You should have let me handle it Erica. I could have put him away for good. He wouldn't be a threat from prison."

Erica looked at him. "You don't know that. And how were you handling it exactly, Diego? You didn't even see those guys coming." She paused. "They would have taken him anyway. I was just making sure David didn't pull Callie into whatever trouble he was in." She moved closer to him. "I saw the gun he was holding to her head, Diego."

"And he was going to go to jail for it!" shouted Diego.

Erica stared at him. "What do you think will happen to him now?"

Diego sighed. "I don't know. They'll probably try to get their money some other way."

"Either way, he's not coming back here," said Erica.

Diego sat in contemplative silence for a few seconds and then chuckled. "Probably not, but he might."

"He's not coming back," said Erica sounding so very sure.

Diego looked doubtful.

"Think about it, Diego. He's now wanted for kidnapping. You know David. I bet they do too. They let the police get a hold of him what's he going to use as leverage?"

And then Diego saw it too. "Shit! They're gonna kill him. They don't get their money, but they weren't going to get it anyway with him behind bars and they can't afford to let him land in police custody. It's just a business loss for them."

Erica did not acknowledge his thought process. "I'll meet you guys at the police station," she said as she walked away.

"Erica?" pleaded Callie, but Erica did not turn around.

* * *

Last Chapter coming up


	15. Chapter 15

**TITLE: Family (Chapter 15 – Conclusion)  
AUTHOR: rcruz**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, things would look a lot different. The characters, settings, established histories, and general Grey's Anatomy universe referenced in this work are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**Author's Note: Final Chapter. Just wanted to say that writing Erica/Callie stories has been a wonderful experience but (like most good things) the process has brought with it some life lessons that were difficult to learn. I take heart in the fact that the lessons were indeed learned. This medium we operate under, with its love of anonymity, makes it easy for people to be mean. I am more thankful than I could possibly express that my experience in this space has been positive. You all could have been mean and weren't. You were sometimes over the top nice. I thank you for that. To all of those who commented and commented regularly, thank you. You are the nicest bunch of people I'll never meet.**

**Also just fyi – **_**abuelos**_** means grandparents and I've revised the last chapter of Just a Simple Love Story so that it fits with this.**

Chapter 15 - Conclusion

Erica walked away intent on making it back to her car without throwing up. She had heard Callie call her name, but she found herself unable to turn around. It had been like the blur of a snowstorm the events that had led her here. The flurries of that slightly frantic call from Addison that were merely disorienting at first had led to a full on blizzard the moment she pulled up behind Diego just as he pulled away. She had followed still confused about the caravan she had reluctantly become a part of the moment she saw Callie's car seemingly in the lead. She had almost crashed when she thought she saw something being pointed at Callie's head that she couldn't really make out and had started praying that she was wrong about what she thought she saw. She had witnessed Diego's flight out of the car and wanted to panic, because she had never seen him like that. She had made to follow, but then the other car showed up and three burly guys had followed Diego. In that moment she thought she was beginning to understand what was happening. Her hand was dialing 911 as she watched, but the guns were coming out, so she had dropped the phone and made her way to Diego's car.

She didn't know how it all came together for her, but it had. She thought she knew why David needed money and in that moment she had wanted nothing more than to get Callie out of there and turn David over to the folks who were undoubtedly looking for him. And so she had.

But the fact that Callie had not shared this with her, had not told her she was planning to meet him, had done this on her own without Erica, that was making her insides shake. It wasn't the gun she had held in her hand; it wasn't the fact that there were guns all around her. It wasn't even the fact that they could have all been killed. It was that Callie had not told her.

She had gone to her car, intent on doing whatever Diego needed at the police station and then heading back to the hospital, the place where she knew how everything worked and her place in it. Callie caught up with her just as she reached her car.

"Hey," she said reaching for Erica's arm. Erica was tempted to pull away and for a split second she almost did. She had started to move, but as soon as she felt those fingers curl around her arm, she stopped.

"I'm sorry," said Callie simply.

Erica relaxed. She felt Callie inching closer. "That was kind of crazy what you just did," she said rubbing Erica's arm up and down almost as if she was reassuring herself that Erica was there, healthy and whole.

"Crazier than what you just did?" answered Erica.

Callie moved closer and put her head on Erica's shoulder. "I was desperate. It was stupid."

"It was incredibly stupid," said Erica putting arms around her. They hugged for a few minutes letting their bodies find all the places where they fit.

"Callie, why didn't you tell me?" said Erica. "We're in this together right? I'm not imagining that."

"Of course we are! Why would you even say that?" said Callie separating herself from Erica.

Erica's shaky stomach returned. "Callie you didn't talk to me. I feel like you haven't been talking to me at all lately."

"I've been trying to get this all sorted out so we can go back to our lives. Do you think I want any of this? Do you think I liked you being out of the house? I just wanted it to end, and he wasn't going to do things the traditional way, so I had to do something."

"He's dangerous, Callie. He could have hurt you."

"He didn't. Yes, I should have told you. I wanted to, but you would have just tried to stop me."

"Well of course I would have stopped you! I mean look what happened," said Erica raising her voice.

"Erica, I had to do something. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it was the only way. You would have stopped me, Diego would have stopped me. I had to do it. The situation wasn't going to change unless I dealt with him and I had to do that because he would only deal with me."

"You didn't even give me a chance to support you," said Erica crossing her arms. "You just decided what I was going to say and do."

Callie moved closer. "You're right, but honestly Erica, what would you have done? Would you have let me walk into that bar by myself?" she asked with pleading brown eyes.

Erica was silent for a few moments wanting to think before she spoke. "Probably not," she said. "But Callie, you still should have talked to me. Honesty, remember? We were going to tell each other everything."

Callie put her hands on Erica's chest, her eyes focused on where her hands lay. "Can we just put this behind us? Please?" she said raising her eyes to meet Erica's. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I'm not sorry I did it. I almost had him Erica. I almost got him to sign," she said once again seeking out Erica's warmth and letting her head rest on Erica's shoulder.

"I don't think that matters now," said Erica pulling Callie into a full hug and hanging on to the fact that it didn't matter; that David was probably not coming back. "I don't think we'll see him again," she said out loud. Not surprisingly the thought made Erica feel better.

"You really think they're going to...you know."

"I don't really know Callie, but it's likely David got himself into trouble he's not going to be able to find his way out of this time. Either way, I don't think he'll be contacting you again."

Diego walked toward them.

"You two okay?" he asked, sounding a little more relaxed than he had earlier. They nodded. "Dad's going nuts, the cops are waiting for us at the station and my bossed is pissed. All in all, good job of messing with my world Erica."

"You messed with mine," she said teasingly.

"Dad? Why is Dad pissed?" asked Callie.

"Because him and Mom are at the house and Addison told them what was going on. I told him everyone was okay and that the drama was over." He looked at Callie. "He sounded really worried and...he really wants to talk to you." His gaze shifted to Erica momentarily. "He asked about you too. I told him you got to be a hero today."

Erica rolled her eyes. Callie blinked.

"He asked about Erica?" she said in disbelief.

Erica hugged her again. "You should talk to him. He doesn't understand everything, but I think he's willing to try."

"You talked to him again?"

"He stopped by. We have...an understanding...of sorts."

"I thought I was the drama queen in this relationship," said Callie as they both walked towards Erica's car.

"Look around you Callie. You are," said Erica.

Diego laughed then started walking to his own car. "I'll have someone drive your car back to the house, sis. Just tell Erica to follow me to the station," he shouted at them.

Callie nodded. It was weird. A few minutes ago Erica's heart had been in her throat, the fear permeating her bones and yet now, with Callie by her side and Diego talking logistics, it was all fading fast, like a very distant, distant dream.

Diego was nervous and he wasn't usually nervous. After the excitement of everything and the endless reports and interviews he had to endure, he had returned to his sister's house to find a gaggle of people all talking at once and over each other. It was not in anger, it was just loud and boisterous because they were being loud and boisterous. His Dad was holding a basketball explaining something or other to Lucas who was trying to listen, but couldn't help asking question after question excitedly. Callie was engaged in a loud conversation with their mother that she looked unhappy about having. His mother was probably planning a "coming out" party as a vehicle for introducing them to the family in Florida. Erica was rubbing Callie's shoulders and back, but was also taking part, probably interjecting the only sane portions of the conversation. Allie was sitting in Addison's lap with a few books in her hands, flipping through them quickly, her mouth going almost non-stop. She would only pause to let Addison get in a question here and there.

They had acknowledged his presence, but no one had asked him questions about the whole David situation and how that had gone over with the police. He had been able to smooth most of it over, although his superiors weren't happy. They had initiated a search for the mysterious sedan, but it had seemingly disappeared along with all of its inhabitants. He imagined at some point David's body would show up, but it would not be for a long while. These people knew where to hide things. He wondered what that would mean for Allie's adoption. As if his mind had the power to conjure up the tangible representation of his thoughts, the doorbell rang. He was closest to it, so he swung the door open to find Danielle and Elaine standing there, worried looks on their faces.

"Everyone okay?" asked Danielle as she walked in not waiting for an invitation.

"Yep," he said closing the door behind Elaine who followed Danielle, but said nothing.

Danielle's voice joined the din, but it was firm and tense and she was projecting it more loudly than anyone else.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she asked directing her question to both Callie and Erica.

"Excuse me?" said Erica moving closer to Callie and letting her own voice project dangerously.

Danielle placed hands on her hips and looked around almost as if it had just dawned on her that she was in a roomful of people. "Kitchen?" she asked Erica her tone still sharp, but there was a genuine question in her voice and just hints of a plea.

Erica was not happy, but she nodded and both she and Callie walked into the kitchen, Elaine once again following.

There was a moment of silence while the room's remaining inhabitants stared at each other. Lucas looked for Allie and her eyes sought his as well and then they looked at Diego. He smiled reassuringly.

"Hey guys, why don't you get some of your LEGO creations and bring'em down for the _abuelos_? Your Moms should be done with Danielle in a little while."

They nodded their assent and started to make their way upstairs, but not without glancing worriedly at the kitchen.

"That woman is not very happy, is she?" said his father when the kids had disappeared upstairs.

"That's Callie's lawyer and my guess is no. I don't think Callie shared what she was going to do with her."

"No, she didn't," said his father a bit gruffly. "You didn't even know," he finished accusingly.

"No, she didn't tell me, but...she did what she felt was right. It worked out. That's all that matters," said Diego.

His father's scowl grew. "If Dr. Hahn had not been there..."

"Carlos, her name is Erica," said Carmen coming to stand next to him. "Diego tiene razón. No one was hurt. Let's just thank the Lord everyone is okay."

"At least I know she can take care of Callie," said Carlos directing his scowl at Diego.

Diego rolled his eyes. "I was there Dad," said Diego. "In fact I've been here from the beginning. Where were you?"

"Enough!" said Carmen. "Callie's fine, everyone is fine! That's all that matters." She looked from her son to her husband.

"You're right," said Carlos to his wife.

"Yeah," said Diego.

He didn't want to be doing this in front of Addison anyway. He didn't want to be doing this at all. He wanted to talk to her, not get into a pissing match with his father. The father son thing had never been easy for them and he had certainly not missed this facet of their relationship the last three years. He shouldn't expect miracles on that front, he thought. It was amazing enough that his father had started addressing him again. His father was the type of man that thought he was responsible for every member of his family and would oftentimes project that sense of responsibility onto Diego. What he didn't understand was that he didn't need to anymore. The message had already gotten through. Diego did feel responsible and was thoroughly disgusted with himself that those guys had gotten the drop on him. But he'd been in law enforcement long enough to know that beating yourself up over an incident like that would change nothing and help no one. If you got pulled out of jam, you thanked your lucky stars you got to walk away, put it behind you and tried to learn from the mistake.

He saw his mother pull his father over to the side and took his opportunity to try and talk to Addison.

"Hey," he said to her fighting the urge to squat in front of the chair she was sitting in and holding her hand.

She smiled back. "Quite the excitement," she answered.

"Thank you."

"For what?" she asked.

"For letting me and Erica know what was going on. You probably saved our lives."

"Well I don't think I did anything that important. I'm glad no one got hurt," she said.

He was finding it hard to resist the urge to touch her, but heard the kids coming down the stairs arguing about something or other and turned away from Addison. Getting her alone would have to wait.

By the time he did get her alone it was late. His parents were getting ready to go back to their hotel, Danielle and Elaine were long gone, Callie and Erica had gone upstairs to check on the kids who had been restless and were finding sleep difficult. The few people that had shown up from the hospital to see if everyone was okay had also departed. He watched Addison carry a few stray dishes into the kitchen and followed. He had been trying to talk to her all night, but while she had not been unfriendly, there was a definite chill in their interactions. It was as if he was an acquaintance and not someone she had exchanged fairly intense and heated emails with. He made no pretense of bringing dishes or anything else into the kitchen, he just followed her.

"Hi," she said as she turned to face him.

He smiled and tried to think of what to say. She stood expectantly, picking up a hand towel and wiping her hands absentmindedly. When nothing was forthcoming from him, she spoke.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked.

His eyebrows shot up. _Wow! She was being really formal._ He frowned looked at her and still couldn't think of where to begin because he had never been that good with this before, words, feelings, none of it.

"Diego?" she questioned.

"I just..." he began and then stopped fighting his instincts.

Despite the email exchanges and wordy banter they had engaged in, it was not ultimately who he was. He was a man of action. So he gave her an honest look, walked over to her, placed a shaky hand on her cheek and a more firm one on her hip and pulled her towards him, letting his lips settle on hers softly, pausing slightly to both enjoy the feel of her and give her an opportunity to pull back. She didn't.

So he let loose the reservations and let himself feel and taste her. She was soft all over and he swore she tasted of honey although that was probably impossible. It was heady and intoxicating the feeling she gave him and he wanted to never stop feeling this heady and intoxicated. He deepened the kiss, bringing her body closer to his as his mouth enticed hers to open. Feeling her tongue mix with his made him feel all whacky and slightly out of control so he pulled back, ever so slowly.

When he finally detached himself from her lips and body and stepped back, letting his hand linger on her cheek long after the rest of him separated from her, he was breathing unevenly and desperately hoping he would not fall over.

"Diego," she said in a tone that was so full of regret and guilt that not even someone as dense and clueless as he was about matters of the heart could miss it. He stepped back even further and crossed his arms defensively, confusion clouding his features.

"You're not..." He laughed. "Wow, okay, boy did I misread that."

She stepped towards him, but he stepped back further. "Diego, I'm sorry, but you know this is impossible. I live in L.A., you live here. Besides you are way too young for me. I'm really not the girl for you."

He frowned at that. "Don't look for excuses, Addison. If you don't like me, just say that, but don't come up with lame excuses."

"They are not excuses. They are real considerations. You are too young and we do live in different cities. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that this was more than it was."

"Sorry I was reading it wrong," he said uncrossing his arms and running hands roughly through his dark hair. He turned, but she stopped him with a hand to his arm.

"Diego, wait. We're still friends, right?"

"We were never friends, Addison," he answered as he carefully removed her hand from his arm. He made it to the doorway this time before stopping on his own and turning around. "So everything you said in those emails, was just…what? A game?"

"No, it wasn't a game, but it...didn't mean what you want it to mean."

"You said I was amazing. You said that when you didn't hear from me you missed me."

"I missed it...not you."

"So I could have been anyone. It could have been anyone, it just happened to be me."

"No, that is not...No it couldn't have been anyone. Diego you are going to make someone very happy some day, but I'm not the person you should try that with."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't give you what you want."

"You don't even know what I want."

"I think I do and you deserve someone that is going to give that to you."

He turned to go once more and this time made it through the doorway, but he didn't want her to have the last word, so he retraced his steps, and walked back into the kitchen.

"I think you're wrong," he said.

She closed her eyes. "About what?"

"Everything," he answered and then he walked away from her, nodded to his parents as he passed and waved to Callie and Erica as they made their way down the stairs.

"Diego?" questioned Callie as she landed on the bottom step. He ignored her and continued making his way to the door.

Callie stared after him as he quietly made his way out without a word to anyone. The door closed softly and for a minute Callie was tempted to go after him.

"Are you ready to head out Mr. and Mrs. Torres?" she heard Erica ask from behind her before feeling a familiar squeeze to her arm reminding her that she still needed to deal with her parents.

Callie turned her attention to them. They looked uneasy, but exhausted. "He'll be fine," she said in response to the question in their eyes. "I'll talk to him. Why don't you guys go back to the hotel? You can stop by tomorrow morning."

They nodded and began the customary hugs and kisses with Callie. Carmen did the same with Erica and then it was just Erica and Callie's Dad facing each other. Erica was smirking, which Callie did not understand, while her Dad looked slightly panicked. Finally, Erica extended her hand and Callie thought she heard a sigh of relief from her Dad. Weird. She would have to ask Erica about it later.

Right now, her parents needed to go and she needed to talk to Addison, who she guessed was the person in the kitchen making noise.

After seeing her parents to the door and with only one more guest to deal with, Callie turned to Erica, grasping her hands and holding them. "I'm tired."

"Me too," said Erica rubbing Callie's hands with her thumb.

"I think something happened with them," said Callie inclining her head toward the kitchen.

"Probably," said Erica with a sigh. "Why don't you go deal with that and I'll call the hospital. I have to check on my patient." She pulled Callie's hands to her lips, kissing them lightly. "But make it quick. We need to go to bed. I need to be with you."

Callie smiled. "I need you too, sexy. I'll be quick," she said pulling her hands away from Erica's lips and replacing them with her own lips, pressing firmly until the kiss deepened. Suddenly hands were unclasped and wrapping around bodies and Callie thought she felt Erica moving them towards the couch.

"Don't you two have a room?"

They separated somewhat reluctantly.

"See you in a few minutes," said Erica placing a light kiss on Callie's nose and nodding at Addison before making her way to the study.

Addison sat on the couch. "Is it okay if I stay on your couch for tonight?"

"Of course," said Callie as she joined her. "My brother practically ran outta here."

Addison tensed. "I'm sorry about that. I think he was expecting more of me than I'm willing to give right now."

Callie frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means your brother is seeing things where no things exist."

Callie stared incredulously at her. "You don't like him?"

"I like him a lot, but we, as in him and I together, are not a good idea."

"Why not?" asked Callie leaning into the couch cushions.

Addison gave her a look. "Come on Callie. I live in L.A. He lives here. And no offense, but he's younger than you are."

"So? He's a good guy and he really likes you."

"He's the type of guy that is going to want a family with kids," she continued staring at Callie significantly. "Things I cannot give him."

"Did he say that?"

"No, but it's clear as day. Just look at the way he looks at Allie and Lucas." She paused. "Are we okay, Callie? I don't want things to be weird with us because of this."

"You and me?" asked Callie. "Diego has nothing to do with you and me, but I think he really likes you and he's a great guy. You should give him the chance to decide for himself what he wants."

"I can't," said Addison sadly, "because he'll make the wrong decision."

Callie was at a loss. She understood what Addison was saying, but something about the whole thing was just plain wrong. They both turned at the sound of footsteps.

"I'm going up to bed, sweetheart. Don't stay up to late," said Erica as she walked in from the study.

Callie and Addison both stood up.

"No, please I need to sleep," said Addison. "And you two need to go to bed."

Erica looked grateful. Callie walked over to her placing a tired arm around her waist and sighing contentedly when she felt Erica's arm at her back.

"Well talk some more tomorrow," she said to Addison.

"Wait a minute, what did Danielle say?" asked Addison yawning involuntarily.

"After all the yelling?" said Callie through a yawn of her own. "She said we need to pursue the normal route for Allie's adoption. We demonstrate we've made a good faith effort to find the father and then when he doesn't show up," she paused and cleared her throat. "We just file the papers. Elaine's agreed to help. I think Danielle scared the crap out of her when she found out Elaine had agreed to my plan." She turned to Erica. "Your friend can be really scary."

"She learned from the best," said Erica pulling Callie towards the stairs. "Night Addison," she said.

The last thing they heard from anyone besides each other that night was Addison's faint "Good night."

Tomorrow would be a fresh start for all of them.

It would be weeks before Diego would talk about Addison, but only one day between the scary events involving David and the scary conversation with her father. The _abuleos_ had been at the house bright and early the next morning for breakfast and while Callie had been able to put aside her father's angry words in the aftermath of the crisis the day before, his presence that morning had made her uneasy. She knew he was trying. Both Erica and her Mother had told her that. She knew he was speaking to her again, but they had yet to talk about the fight or anything having to do with her choices and so despite the civility he had shown her and, she had to admit Erica, she had been nervous waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop.

It didn't. They had talked after breakfast after the kids had been hauled off to school by Erica who had to be at the hospital early. Callie needed to be there too, but the conversation with her father needed to happen and so the two of them had walked out onto the patio while her mother cleaned the breakfast dishes.

It was all awkward pauses and stilted words, but in the end he told her it came down to love. He loved her. He would learn to accept her choices, even if it was hard. He had not hesitated to tell her how hard it would be and while she didn't appreciate the implication that somehow his life being "hard" was her fault, she hugged him, told him she loved him too and assured him that with time he would love Erica as well.

He had laughed at that somewhat nervously. "As long as she loves you, we'll be okay."

It would not happen overnight she had told herself, but she had hope that it would happen, that eventually everything wouldn't be so hard for him.

When Diego had finally come around to talking to them about the whole Addison affair, it had been over lots and lots of wine and beer; wine for her and Erica, beer for him. The kids were spending the night with the _abuelos_ at their hotel room, swimming in the pool and probably being fed junk all night. Her mother apparently couldn't seem to stay away for long and so she had been making frequent trips to Seattle, often with Callie's Dad.

"So are you okay?" Callie asked as she sat with him on the patio that night.

"Does it matter?" he responded. He was slouched down on one of the patio chairs, legs stretched out in front of him sloppily.

"So not okay?"

"No big deal. I swung. I missed," he said not looking at her. "It happens to everyone, right? And now it's happened to me." He set the beer down on the table.

"Don't you get three strikes?" said a voice from the shadows. Erica had gone inside for more wine and was making her way back.

He looked at her. "What?"

"In baseball, don't you get three strikes before you're out?" He still looked confused as she took her place next to Callie on the cushioned loveseat.

"This… isn't…baseball," he managed to spit out slowly.

"You're the one using baseball metaphors. I'm just reminding you that you get more than one swing before you're out."

He rubbed his face. "You want me to swing again?"

"If you get the right pitch," she said putting her arm around Callie and pulling her close.

"How will I know if it's the right pitch?"

"First you have to step back up to the plate, don't you?"

"How do you know so much about baseball?" asked Callie taking the wine glass from Erica and sipping.

"We have a child that seems to be into any and all sports. I had to read up on it. Besides, can't you see the softball player in me?"

Diego started laughing. "Stereotype," he said giggling. "You're a stereotype."

"No," said Callie ignoring him. "I don't see you as a softball player, but I'm impressed with your knowledge." And then because she wanted her brother to stop giggling, she kissed Erica long and hard.

"Aw come on!" he shouted. "Keep it up and I'm outta here."

"You'll get no argument from me," said Erica when she could finally breathe.

But the fun had left him almost as fast as it had come on.

"Two more swings," he muttered.

"Wait for the right pitch Diego. Be patient, don't rush it," said Erica getting up from her seat. "Feel free to stay out here as long as you like, but I have a sudden desire to take my wife to bed."

"I like the sound of that," said Callie letting herself be pulled up. "Don't forget to lock up," she said to her brother who was barely paying attention to them.

He sat in silent contemplation for a long while on that chair, thinking about pitches, and swinging, being patient and especially silky red hair, nice hit you in your gut smiles, and soft, full lips. He pulled out his phone. Step back up to the plate was the thought foremost in his mind.

The End

**This is the end folks. It's the end of a lot of things. It's the end of this particular version of Erica and Callie. It is also the end of fanfics for me, at least for now. (One never knows when inspiration will strike.) In the short time I've been writing these things, I always had the experience of another story being on top of me before I finished the one I was working on. That is no longer the case, so I bid adieu to two of my favorite gals from Grey's Anatomy. I think they finally tapped me out.**


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